


I Didn't Know Until I Met You

by B2Sweet16



Series: Sohara College Series - Those Hands, The Way Your Fingers Fit Between Mine [1]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Freeform, Lesbian Character, National Women's Soccer League, US Women's Soccer National Team
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2018-10-19 01:50:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 72,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10629669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/B2Sweet16/pseuds/B2Sweet16
Summary: Emily should've known the minute she locked eyes with Kelley she was sunk. Friendship and feelings and all that goes along with the confusing time when starting college.Alternate Universe in college with club soccer team.





	1. Chapter 1 - Welcome to College

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all, this is my first fic EVER. I have no idea if anyone will even read it lol. Let me know if you like it so far. I don't know how long it will be, but have a general idea of where I want it to go. Feedback is definitely welcome/encouraged! Hope everyone is along for the So'Hara ride. Enjoy :)

Emily sighed with frustration as she stared up at the last flight of stairs she had to conquer on what seemed like the longest, sweatiest day of her life. She took a deep breath and hefted her final box onto her hip and trudged onward. No one told her that moving into college was so much manual labor! She had always imagined some strapping young fraternity men gracefully bringing in all her items and then she and her parents would happily unpack, easy peasey lemon squeezy! But nooooo. Here she was, having just sent her parentals on their merry way back to the hotel and she was covered in a thin layer of grime and sweat with one last box to go. With her back, Emily pushed open the door to the stairwell and instead of being met with an open hallway she crashed into something solid, flailing and dropping her items in the process.

“Oh shit! Are you ok?”

Emily looked up and saw a small freckled hand reaching out to help her up. Grateful for the assistance, she was pulled to her feet and saw that the hand was attached to a feisty looking brunette in cut offs and an underarmour tank. A lightning bolt of energy went down her spine as she locked eyes with the stranger. Her eyes were unexplainable, both green and brown and somehow golden all at the same time. All of sudden she realized she was still holding this girl’s hand and she began to feel the blush rising to her cheeks.

“Oh, um, yeah no biggie, I’m totally fine, I mean you should see me walking around normally, I coulda fallen all by myself” Emily stammered. Ugh smooth move dingus, she thought to herself, now this girl totally thinks you’re a hot mess!

Those eyes sparkled back as their owner smirked at Emily. “Well, good to know! I’ll have to make sure I’m around to catch you a lot this semester then! My name’s Kelley by the way.”

Emily stared for a second, but finally replied. “I’m Emily Sonnett.” She started to gather her box back into her arms as she spoke.

“Let me get that for you! Lead the way to your room and I’ll make sure you get there in one piece.”

There was that glimmer in her eye again! Why was this girl teasing her so much when she didn’t even know her? “Uh ok, I’m just down the hall. Do you live here too?”  
Emily unlocked her door and stepped into her new digs for the next year as Kelley answered. “Well I live on the floor above you. I’m a sophomore, so I have a single. It’s pretty rad.” Kelley set the box down and made herself comfortable on Emily’s bed as she breezily stated “I hope you don’t mind that I’m like all up in your space already, I’ve been told I can be like a tornado upon first meeting me and that I lack personal boundaries.”

This statement seemed to finally shake Emily out of her zombie state and she let out a hearty, perhaps overly so, laugh. “Wellllll I did fall flat on my ass at my first meeting with you, so maybe the tornado thing isn’t too far off the truth” Emily winked and began to unpack her last box.  
“Ha, touché!” Chuckled Kelley. Emily pulled a pair of well-loved cleats from the top of her box and placed them in her closet. When she turned around she was met with the largest grin she’d ever seen.

“No way, do you play soccer?! We have a club team here and it’s the best time ever. We travel to other schools and have massive parties and movie nights and it’s like a little soccer family. You’re coming to try outs tomorrow? I can give you some hints on how to play with some of the girls… Why are you laughing at me?” Kelley looked at Emily incredulously.

Emily laughed and gasped for air, “You’re spiraling out of control and all I did was put some cleats in my closet! I can’t even imagine what will happen if I ever score a goal! Yes, I do play soccer and yes I’ll be at tryouts tomorrow.”

Kelley leaped up from the bed. “Sweet! I’ll come get you at 2 and drive us to the pitch together! You’ll already be ahead of the game if you show up with me. Here give me your phone so I can put in my number.” Kelley had her hand in Emily’s back pocket sliding her phone out before Emily could think to stop her. She typed furiously then grabbed Emily by the shoulder and pulled her in for a selfie.

“There! Officially friends, no take backs. You can’t undo a friendship once you have a photo of them in your contacts.” Sliding Emily’s phone back into her pants pocket Kelley made intentional eye contact with Emily as her hand grazed Emily’s back. The now familiar blush rose to Emily’s face and she couldn’t help but avert her gaze.

All of sudden the door to the tiny dorm room popped open and a gangly brunette walked through the door with some rather large suitcases. Emily jumped at the sound of the door opening and almost fell all over again tripping over her boxes. Kelley grabbed her by the wrist to steady her. “Easy there slugger, you weren’t kidding when you said you could fall all by yourself! You must be Emily’s roommate! I’m Kelley and I’m gonna get out of your hair since this room is about the size of a matchbox. See you at 2 tomorrow Em!” Kelley bounded out of the room and Emily and her new roommate were left awkwardly staring in silence.

“What the hell just happened?” mused the brunette.

“Apparently that walking whirlwind of a human is my new friend Kelley who lives in this building too. She's a bit of a handful, but enough about her. You must be Morgan though! I’m super pumped that we’re gonna be rooming together this year.”

“Wow, people sure are friendly in this building. I was trapped in the hallway with a short brown haired girl named Ashlyn for like 10 minutes before I could get up to our room! Haha yeah I am Morgan, but everyone calls me Moe. It’s nice to finally meet you in person Emily, should I set up my side of the room?”

The two roommates kept unpacking in lulls of quiet and conversation, slowly getting to know one another. Emily learned that Moe wanted to become a physical therapist when she graduated, she loved spongebob and wasn’t ashamed to show it, and she also played soccer! Emily quickly invited her to tag along in the car with her and Kelley to tryouts tomorrow. Moe tried to refuse the offer politely, but Emily insisted.

“Phew! I’m beat” Emily flopped on her bed dramatically.

“You wanna see if our meal plans work?” asked Moe?

“It’s like you read my mind! I think we’re gonna get along just fine.” smiled Emily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, thoughts? I know it's short, but I wanted to put something quick up. Any writing suggestions? Truly I have never done this, so I definitely need your help haha.


	2. Chapter 2 - Did She Really Mean It?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok 2nd chapter! A bit longer, but still kinda short, so hopefully I'll be able to make the chapters longer as I get the hang of this. Please leave your kudos and I'd love some comments to hear if you like it or not!

The pair amiably made their way to the dining hall, pointing out funny sights and telling stories along the way. It was one of those perfect end of summer evenings with a light breeze and Emily felt content and full of excited anticipation about the days to come. She turned to Morgan and smiled as they got to the dining hall. Once inside Emily’s eyes were bigger than her stomach and she started to pile her plate with food. As she was placing her 2nd cookie onto her tray she heard a newly familiar voice behind her snicker “Aren’t you a little skinny to be able to put away all that?”

Emily didn’t know where it came from but she fired back without even turning to acknowledge the freckled fiend “Aren’t you a little judgey for only making new friend status a few hours ago?” When she did turn around she was met with a shocked and speechless Kelley O’Hara. Emily hip bumped her and flashed a smile her way before sitting down next to Moe and digging in to her smorgasbord of food.

A minute later Moe hissed anxiously, “Emily why is there a whole group of girls staring at us? Do I have food in my teeth? Do you think they’re talking about us?! I think Kelley is telling them to come over here! Pretend you’re laughing at my story!” Not 20 seconds later a gaggle of athletic looking girls plopped into the empty seats at their table.

“Hi, I hope we’re not interrupting your dinner! I’m Alex, can we sit with you? Kell tells me you’re going to be on the club soccer team with us?” Morgan nodded slowly and the gals joined their table.

Emily looked up and realized just how many of them had sat down all around her. Harnessing the inner snark that Kelley seemed to have awakened in her Emily quipped “Oh did she! Well did she tell you she almost maimed me by crashing into me this afternoon? You would have lost your star defender before we even started!”  
Kelley flew up from her chair and chimed in indignantly “I did not almost maim you! We both were at fault and you totally would have fallen in your room if I hadn’t caught you and who are you calling star defender before you’ve even seen me play and…” she petered out when she realized the whole group was giggling at her over excitability. 

A lanky, chill looking brunette chimed in “You’ll get used to Kelley. We like to call her the flying squirrel for her epic goal celebrations, but secretly it’s cause she acts a bit rabid.

“Hey! I am not rabid, I’m passionate!” protested Kelley as she sheepishly sat back down at the table. “You know you love me losers. Well either way this is the team and I thought you might want to meet them! You just met Alex, but over there with the jokes is Tobin, that’s Ali, Ashlyn, and Christen. There are more girls on the team, but you’ll meet them tomorrow! Oh teamies, this is Em’s roommate who um, what’s your name?”

“I’m Morgan. I play soccer too! Glad to meet you all.” The conversation kept flowing from there with spurts of teasing and laughter intermingled with serious subjects. Emily focused on finishing her plate and then sat back contentedly. When she looked up across from her she saw Kelley watching her with an amused expression.  
Emily made eye contact “What? Why you smirking O’Hara?”

Kelley smiled, “Just watching the show. I’ve never seen anyone focus like that.” She giggled, licked her thumb and reached across to wipe the chocolate from Emily’s cheek. “Plus you look cute with a little chocolate smeared on you.”

Emily froze, completely unsure of what to do as Kelley stared back at her daring her to respond. It seemed like forever until she heard Ashlyn from across the table, “KO stop hitting on the freshman and tell Moe the story of when you waited in your closet for 3 hours to scare Christen last year.”

Kelley winked at Emily and finally turned her head to the rest of the table as she started in on her story, “Wellll… Chris woke me up super early one morning to do her yoga when I was hungover so I decided to get back at her…”

Emily zoned out as Kelley entertained the table with her antics. Was Ashlyn being serious when she told Kelley to stop hitting on her? Sure she had said she looked adorable, but friends say that too! And even if she was flirting, was she ok with that? Emily honestly hadn’t ever considered dating a girl. In high school she’d kissed a few boys here and there, but relationships never seemed to interest her. But now that she thought about it maybe her lack of interest in boys was an ignorance of liking girls? Emily closed her eyes and shook her head to stop the swirling thoughts in her brain. She just moved in to college today! She wasn’t ready to deal with any dating yet be it boys or girls!

All the while during her inner freak out, Emily had failed to notice that Kelley’s foot was brushing hers under the table. Every time Kelley made a point in her story, she inched her foot further up Emily’s calf. When it reached Emily’s knee, Emily finally startled with a sharp intake of breath.

Emily felt a hand on her arm and opened her eyes to see Moe looking at her with concern. “Em, you ok? You look like you saw a ghost!” Kelley’s head snapped towards the skinny blonde when she heard that statement, her usual look of glee switched with concern.

Emily stood up from the table and grabbed her tray, “I’m fine, just tired from unpacking. Morgan, I’m going back to the room, you coming?”

Morgan looked around a bit alarmed at Emily’s urgency, but went along with her new roommate. “Sure, we’ll go back and watch a movie or something so we can relax before tryouts tomorrow! Ladies, it was so great meeting you and Kelley thanks for offering to give us a ride. We can’t wait to get on the pitch with you all tomorrow.”  
Kelley looked up at the mention of her name and flashed a thumbs up. Ali interrupted gleefully “Just you wait til you experience Kelley’s driving and we’ll see if you’re thanking her anymore!” Kelley shoved her playfully. “Don’t listen to her. I always take care of precious cargo.” She looked straight at Em and smiled.

Emily gulped and grabbed Morgan. She laughed nervously, “HAHAHA ohhhh that’s so funny, well um we’ll see you at 2!” Then pulling Moe along behind her she bolted out of the dining hall into the crisp evening sighing with relief.

Morgan stopped with her hands on her hips and looked straight at Emily. “Ok I know I just met you today and maybe this is what you’re like all the time, but what in the world was going on in there?! We were making friends and then you just flipped out.”

Emily started walking back to their room and Morgan jogged to catch up with her, “Hey, I’m sorry, maybe I’m out of line to ask you what’s wrong since we’re not really close yet, but we’re going to live together this whole year and it’ll be a lot easier if we learn to trust each other.”

Emily stopped walking and turned to Morgan, “You’re right, it will be easier if we trust each other, but can we just wait until we’re in the room? I don’t wanna talk about it where people might hear us.”

Morgan softly answered “Sure Em, that’s completely fine.” They continued their walk home in comfortable silence until they got back to their dorm and Morgan started laughing to herself “How funny was it when Ashlyn called Kelley out on her insane flirting?!” Emily froze and got a deer in the headlights look on her face. Moe noticed the switch in demeanor immediately and cautiously broached the topic, “Is that why you got freaked out Emily?”

Emily sighed and sat down on her bed and pulled her stuffed Owl close to her chest. “I don’t knowwww. It’s all so confusing! Do you think Kelley was flirting with me or was Ash just joking? I’ve never flirted with a girl. Is that something I’m supposed to do in college? Kelley had her foot all up my leg and she touched my face and called me adorable and it was kinda nice and then it was also scary and UGH! How do I know if I want to flirt with her? How did my life get so complicated in the last 30 minutes?!?” Emily flopped onto her pillow melodramatically.

Moe chuckled and sat on her desk chair next to Emily’s bed. “Whoa there tiger, one question at a time. Well I can’t really help you with the figuring out if you want to flirt with a girl, that’s definitely something you need to do on your own, but I can will say I thought Kelley was flirting with you. Ash might have been teasing her, but it seemed to have some truth behind it and I'm pretty sure when someone is playing footsie with you under the table it's a good sign" Moe teased and ruffled Emily's hair and continued. "It’s ok if you don’t know how you feel about that, but who knows! Maybe it could be something. We should find you someone with more gaydar to talk to than me though. I’m pretty oblivious about these things. My sister was dating girls for years and I truly thought they were just her gal pals!”

Emily pulled her head up from the pillow and cracked a grin. “Really? You didn’t know at all?”

“Really, I had no clue! They would have sleepovers where they wouldn't let me join and I just thought they were being mean!” The girls shared a laugh together and Moe looked down seriously at Emily. “On a serious note though Em, it’s ok with me if you want to flirt with Kelley or not flirt with any girls or any boys or whoever you want. I don’t believe in a God that cares about those kinds of things. Love is love and it’s all ok. I want you to feel safe in our room and to know I’ll still be your friend, ok?”

Emily sat up, a little sniffly, “Wow Morgan, thank you. That really means a lot. I’ve got a lot to think about I guess, but knowing you’re here to listen really helps. How did I get so lucky to get such a great roommate? Would it be weird if we hugged, this feels like a hug moment.”

“I’m always down for a hug! Get in here roomie.” The pair hugged and then Moe clapped her hands together. “Ok roomster, what movie should we watch to christen our new dorm room! It’s our first night here and we gotta make it a good one.”

Emily responded with a sly grin on her face, “You know there’s only one acceptable movie the night before soccer tryouts!” The pair screeched at the same time “SHE’S THE MAN!!!”

“Haha jinx! That means you have to make the popcorn.” Teased Moe.

“Ugh fine, but you better have the movie set up when I get back.” Emily padded down the hall and looked around for the kitchen. She really shoud’ve paid better attention when her RA was showing her around. Then she had an idea and a surge of confidence. She got her phone out of her pocket and composed a text and pressed send before she could overthink it.

Emily: Hey older, wiser, and most powerful Sophomore where does one find the kitchen in these parts?

Kelley: Hmmmm I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you ;)

Emily swallowed her fear instilled by that oh so devilish winky face emoji and typed her response before she could chicken out.

Emily: Well what if you showed me! I promise I’m a fast learner.

Kelley: Oh really? We’ll see about that. Be down in 2 minutes :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doesn't everyone love a good cliffhanger? :D What would you like to see in upcoming chapters? What's working/not working?


	3. Chapter 3 - Popcorn is a Confusing Snack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is down for slow burn right? Good, cause that's where we're at :D
> 
> Kudos and feedback welcome of course! Still trying to get the length up a bit, but hopefully the quick update makes up for the shortness.

True to her word, Kelley was down the stairs in 2 minutes flat, but in that short time Emily had managed to work herself into a tizzy. She paced the hallway anxiously, wringing her hands and already regretting her brief moment of text bravery. What are you doing you crazy lady?! You have no idea what you’re doing, you don't have any flirting skills/game whatsoever and you don't know if you even like her?! She thought to herself. She stopped short when she heard the door start to open. She whispered “Pull yourself together Sonnett, it’s just popcorn!” She tried to appear casual, wiping her sweaty palms on her shorts and plastering a fake smile on her face.

Kelley bounded out of the stairwell, so full of energy it was like her freckles were radiating off her skin and Emily couldn’t help it as her smile became genuine and the laughter bubbled up in her chest as she took in Kelley’s ensemble.

“Really? Squirrel pajamas? Does Tobin know about this? Because if she doesn’t she’s gonna know now…” Emily snapped a photo and immediately put it on her snapchat story.

Kelley looked at her incredulously. “Did you really just do that? Oh you’re dead meat! You have no idea who you’re up against freshman. I hope you’re fast Sonnett cause otherwise you’re about to taste some the famous O’Hara humble pie!”

Before Emily could even think about making a run for it she found herself pinned to the floor by 125 pound of feisty freckled muscle. The glint in Kelley’s eye was damn near terrifying and Emily was fairly certain she had forgotten how to breathe when all of sudden Kell started tickling the life out of her! Emily felt like her skin was on fire and her brain was short-circuiting from all the overwhelming sensations as tears of mirth streamed down her face.

“Uncle! Uncle! Kelley I can’t!” panted Emily.

“Not until you say my squirrel pajamas are awesome!”

“Ugh yes, your pajamas are awesome!”

“And you are sorry for making fun of them on snapchat…”

“Yes, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“And I look positively delectable in anything I wear.”

“Of course you look amazing, you always look amazing, just please stop tickling meeeee!”

Emily felt sweet relief and praised all the deities she had ever heard of as the tickling subsided and Kelley looked down at her mischievously. It occurred to Emily how compromising their position might look to the unsuspecting outsider as Kelley was straddling her in the middle of the dorm hallway and she tried the wriggle out of her captor’s surprisingly strong legs.

“Of course I look amazing?” Kelley teased. Emily blushed deeply and sighed as Kelley finally released her.

“Just shut up and show me where to make the popcorn already.”

The pair padded down the halls as Kelley led the way to the dorm kitchen. Both tried to pretend they weren’t stealing glances at the other and silently moved towards their goal. 2 flights of stairs and about 3 minutes later, they reached the ground floor and the common space kitchen.

“Voila! Your popcorn making heaven!” Kelley threw open the door with a theatrical flourish.

Emily laughed quietly and went about the motions for making her and Moe’s movie treat as Kelley stood in the doorframe watching. The microwave beeped and Emily turned around to face her.

“Well thanks for your help! I probably would have wandered around looking for it forever and Moe would’ve starved to death, so….” She shuffled awkwardly.  
“You’re welcome. Aren’t you going to ask me if I want to help y’all eat it?” There was that playful grin. Was this woman ever not full of mischief?! Emily’s mouth started to move before she was done thinking.

“Oh! Uh sure. Do you want to come watch She’s the Man with us? That’s what the popcorn is for so you kinda have to watch the movie if you want to partake in this salty goodness. I mean I guess I could give you a handful if you don’t want to watch the movie. Do you have a bowl? Of course you don’t have a bowl you just came from your room, I could get you a Ziploc or something.” Emily stopped talking as she noticed Kelley trying to hide her laughter behind her hand.

“It’s cool Sonnett. You and Moe should have your roomie night. Alex and I were about to do pedicures anyway. Honestly, I just wanted to see if you would invite me…” She stared curiously at Emily and picked up her train of thought. “So, I’ll see you at 2 tomorrow before tryouts. Just so know, no Ziplocs will be necessary.” With that she winked and walked out the door.

Emily stood for a least a minute in the tiny kitchen trying to process everything that just happened. What in tarnation was all of that?!? She just wanted to see if I would invite her? I told her she ALWAYS LOOK AMAZING?! But that moment after she stopped tickling me and that piece of hair fell in her face all I wanted to do was sweep it behind her ear… Sweet baby Jesus! I’m in over my head mused Emily. She snapped out of her post-Kelley confusion fog, gathered her snack, and made her way back up to her room.

Emily slipped into the bedroom and Morgan looked up from her movie watching nest she had created in her bed. “What took you so long roomie? I was about to send out a search party!” she chucked to herself, enjoying her joke.

“Good to know you have such little faith in me! Maybe next time you should make the popcorn if my methods are too slow for you” Emily said with a tongue-in-cheek tone.

“Oh come on, there’s no way something didn’t just happen. I heard the squealing in the hall! It sounded like a toddler was getting tortured out there. Spill lady.”

Emily looked at Moe with astonishment. “You could hear us?! Oh god, I hope no one was looking in the hall…”

That caught Morgan’s attention. “So there was something going on!!! Girl you have about 2 seconds before I go all Sherlock on you and detective the info out of you.”  
“Ok! Ok! I’ll tell you, no need to do anything rash” chuckled Emily. “Well I was a little lost at first trying to find the kitchen and so I might have asked Kelley for help and things might have gotten a little weird and confusing.”

“You mighttt have done those things? C’mon Em, time to dish. Remember our trust agreement?”

“Ugh fine, but you’re gonna have to start telling me embarrassing things pretty soon because this is feeling unfairly one-sided.”

Emily relayed the story to Moe in great detail and her new friend reacted with all the right responses. She gasped, and sighed, and powered the popcorn into her mouth, engrossed in the Shonda Rhimes show that seemed to have become Emily’s life.

“And then she just left with a wink and said she would see you tomorrow at 2?”

“Yes! And I just stood there and let it all happen. Morgan, what am I gonna dooooo?” whined Emily.

“Well first things first, do you think this means you like Kelley? Like, like like her?”

The blush on Emily’s cheeks could’ve passed for a fire engine. “I guess so, I don’t know, I mean obviously she’s pretty and fun and her eyes are sparkly and…” Her words came out in a soft mumble.

“Haha ok there champ, we’ll leave that one alone for now. You know what I think we need to do? We have to find you a yoda. Someone who has dealt with all this before and who you can really talk to. We can call ourselves the Secret Squirrel Squad!” Morgan was really into her new idea jumping up from her bed and rubbing her hands together gleefully.

“Ooooo I’m a genius!!! At practice tomorrow we’re gonna scope out the gals and see who pings the gaydar and have you schedule lunch with them! Sounds good no? I’m excited!!!”

Emily just nodded silently, dazed by Morgan’s exuberance.

“Eeeeek this has been such a good roomie bonding day! Let’s watch the movie so we can go to bed and get up early and plan while we get our books and scope out the best walking routes to our classes and all the fun stuff before tryouts!” Moe was off in her own little operation help Emily get her groove on world as she turned on the movie and snuggled back into her bed, Spongebob tucked by her side.

As the familiar opening chords of “No Sleep Tonight” started playing Emily burrowed into her bed too and sat back to enjoy the simple pleasure of indulging in someone else’s fictional relationship drama. She had certainly had enough hijinks of her own that evening to last her for a long while. Yet, she couldn’t help but feel like tonight was just the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Favorite moment? Things you'd like to see? Get at me in the comments.


	4. Chapter 4 - Sunday Funday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy NWSL Opening Weekend! I hope everyone got to watch lots of amazing soccer. This chapter should be a good one with lots of different characters interacting and I was able to get a bit more length so enjoy and let me know what you think!

When Emily woke up the next morning she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her. Slowly she stretched and wiped the sleep from her eyes. She sat up in bed and turned to grab her phone from the nightstand. She came face to face with Moe, Cheshire cat grin wide on her face.

“AAAAAAAACKKKKK!" Emily tumbled from her comfy perch and Moe cackled and almost fell over herself.

“You almost gave me a heart attack you weirdo! How long have you been waiting there for me to wake up?!” Emily got to her feet and smoothed out her rumpled pajamas.

“Honestly I have no idea, I’ve been up for hours! I already showered and went to church this morning and you were still dead to the world when came back. But it doesn’t matter because I’m just so excited! Today is our first day of our college adventures! We need to get a jump on all our plans for today!” Morgan leapt to her feet and handed Emily her towel.

“C’mon sleepy head, get in the shower so we can go get our books before all the used copies without gross stains on them are gone! Plus we only have like 4 hours til Kelley drives us to tryouts and you know we need to pick out a cute workout outfit for you. Gotta dress to impress!” Morgan waggled her eyebrows.

Emily sighed and wordlessly took the towel all the while glaring at her still grinning roomie. She grabbed her shower caddy and made her way to the bathroom. As she opened the shower curtain she grumbled to herself, “Just my luck, my perfect roomie is a morning person.”

………………………

3 hours later, satiated from another solid dining hall experience and all prepped for classes after their practice routes around campus, a very frazzled Emily stood outside her dorm overloaded with books, binders, notebooks, notecards, highlighters, pens/pencils, and all the other new school crap Morgan had made her buy.

“You can’t go to classes with just your laptop silly goose! You need these for note taking in your textbooks and these post its are crucial for studying. Geez Em, how did you get through high school?!” had been the bean pole of a brunette’s astonished reaction when Emily came to the bookstore counter with just her textbooks and a pack of pens.

Currently Moe was about 10 feet behind her chatting with a new friend she had met at church while Emily struggled to get her key card out of her shorts pocket. Just as she was about try an acrobatic maneuver to get her hip up to the card reader without dropping all her items, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Why don’t you let me help you out! It’s Emily right? We met at dinner last night! I’m Alex.” The intimidatingly stunning brunette offered out her arms to take Emily’s bulging bags. “I don’t actually live here, but I’m over here a lot to hang out with Kelley and I know how fickle those card readers are.

Emily gratefully handed over her stuff and successfully managed to open the door. “Thanks so much, if my roomie was paying attention I’d have been inside 5 minutes ago!” laughed Emily as she reached to take her stuff back and head to her room.

“Not a problem! Here I’ll just carry these for you and we can chat! You were so quiet at dinner and I didn’t get to know you at all!” Alex assertively walked towards the dorm stairwell indicating for Emily to follow.

Emily followed, just a little stunned but the sophomore’s charisma and confidence. “Uhhh ok, well there’s not that much to tell. You know I’m a freshman and I like soccer. Um I think I want to study Psychology maybe, but I don’t really know. I’m from Georgia and --”

Alex interrupted excitedly “You’re from Georgia!? Oh Kell is gonna flip out. She’s from Peachtree City and it’s all she ever freaking talks about. You two are just peas in a pod! She couldn’t stop complaining about you shaming her on snapchat last night and how embarrassed she was! Secretly she totally loved it though, I could tell. KO is totally into pranks and silly videos, so you found the way to her heart for sure. Still I had to smack her with a pillow after a while to get her to stop talking! It was too sickeningly cute how obsessed she was. And then when I smacked her the nail polish spilled all over the floor and it was a complete disaster and…”

The whole time Alex was talking and they were walking, Emily had been drinking in her words, saving them to go over later with Morgan, but once she heard Alex say Kelley was obsessed she was off into the island of over analyzation in her mind. Kelley was obsessing over her! But what if she was obsessing over getting her back and just thought it was a funny prank war or something? And if she was obsessing over her because she liked her was that less scary than a prank war?! Emily felt a tap on her shoulder and shook herself out of her thoughts.

“Earth to Emily! Which room? This is your floor?” Alex looked at her expectantly.

“Oh sorry, it’s this one, room 404.” Emily pointed to the door right in front of them and moved to unlock it, holding it open for Alex who moved into the tiny space and loudly set down Emily’s plethora of bags.

“Ooofff did you buy the whole book store!?” Alex massaged her shoulders pointedly.

“Yeahhhh. Morgan got a little motherly in the store and sorta made me buy like 10 years’ worth of stuff. Sorry about that!” Emily shrugged sheepishly.

“Ha! Well I guess I know who to go to if I ever need some school supplies!” Alex smiled and moved towards the door. “I’ve got to go change before tryouts, but I’ll see you soon over at the practice field! Good luck this afternoon, but honestly don’t even worry. It’s club, we just want to make sure you can run and aren’t gonna like pass out on the field.” Alex grinned and waved as headed out, passing Morgan on her way in. “Oh hi Morgan and bye Morgan! See you at tryouts!”

Morgan put her stuff down and turned to her roomie. “What did Alex want?”

Emily rummaged through her drawers looking for her nicest, least holey workout tee, “Well someone, not naming names, abandoned me at the front door and I was flailing like a fish out of water trying to get into the dorm when Alex rescued me!” She looked emphatically at Morgan.

“Whoops, sorry about that! You could’ve called my name though… I would’ve come to help!” said Morgan.

“True, true. Anyway that part’s unimportant because you ignoring me totally worked out because Alex told me that Kelley couldn’t stop talking about me last night! She said she was obsessed! So get your butt over here and help me find something that doesn’t make me look like a ten year old boy about to play his first AYSO match.” Emily started frantically pulling shorts and shirts out of the dresser.

“Wait what?! Alex said that!!! That’s amazing! Ok, sit back and let me at your closet.” Morgan got a determined look on her face and Emily imagined it’s exactly what she would look like right before taking an important PK. “When I’m done with you, Kelley won’t know what hit her!”

………………………

30 minutes and about 12 outfit changes later, both girls were waiting on the ground floor of their dorm for Kelley to come get them.

“Stop fidgeting Em, you look like you need to go to the bathroom!” Hissed Moe. “You look good and she clearly enjoys spending time with you, just take a breath and calm down!”

“It’s not that, it’s just she’s late… She said 2 and it’s 2:05. What if she forgot about us and we’re gonna be late for tryouts? Should I text her? I’m gonna text her.” Before waiting for Moe to respond and discourage her, Emily fired off a text.

Emily: Hey, Moe and I are downstairs. Ready when you are :D

“Was that breezy enough? Should I have asked where she was?” Emily fiddled with her phone refreshing the screen over and over.

Morgan laughed and rolled her eyes at the overly anxious blonde. “Girl you need a major chill pill. I’m sure she’s just running late!” As soon as Moe was done talking, Emily’s phone dinged.

Kelley: Look behind you!

As Emily twirled around she heard a honk out the window. Kelley was beaming in the front seat of a sky blue jeep wrangler. She caught Emily’s eye through the dorm windows and waved, her grin growing wider. Emily turned to Morgan and smiled, “Looks like our ride is here. I call shotgun!"

As the pair walked up to the car, Kelley shouted out the window, “Hola chicas! Say hello to Reba the Wrangler! Best damn car in all the land. Hop in.”

Morgan and Emily laughed and they slid into their seats. Kelley fiddled with the radio, which was blasting some top 20’s station. She turned to the eager freshmen and asked “Ready to go? We just gotta pick up Tobin and Chris on the way and then we’ll head to the field!”

The car ride was super pleasant as they all sang along to the radio and enjoyed the summer breeze. Emily found herself feeling completely free and less anxious than she had since she moved in. She shouted over the radio, “Ali was wrong, you’re an awesome driver! This is great!”

Kelley glanced over trying to keep her eyes on the road, “I told you! I take care of precious cargo.” Emily felt the blush rising to her cheeks and she was thankful Kelley had to pay attention to driving. She turned around and looked at Moe who flashed a thumbs up and mouthed “Keep talking!”

Emily took a deep breath and kept the conversation going, “So Alex told me you’re from Georgia too, just like me and Moe!”

Kelly loudly exclaimed “SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!! You two are peaches?!?! That’s the most epic news I’ve heard all week! We’re like a little Georgia Girl Gang! The triple G’s!” As Kelley excitedly screeched about the awesomeness of their home state, she pulled to a stop in front of a well-loved looking house and turned off the car.

“We’re not done talking about this amazing discovery, but I gotta go get Tobin and Chris, sit tight peaches!” Kelley jumped out of the car and swiftly skipped up the walkway.

“Does she ever do anything not at top speed? That girl is like a walking cyclone!” Morgan said with awe. “Also way to go Em! You weren’t awkward at all, major props.”

Emily glared back at her, “Why would your immediate assumption be that I was awkward?! I can hold polite conversation, I’m not a bridge troll.” She grumbled and crossed her arms.

“Ohhhh I’m sorry your majesty, queen of manners, I didn’t mean to offend!” Moe poked Emily in the back. “But really, I think things are going well, just keep it up and then wow her on the soccer field!”

“Shhhhhh she’s coming back! Act normal!” Emily screeched quietly and both girls sat back in their seats and tried to look calm.

Kelley ran back to the car and turned it on. “Chris and Tobs will be out in a sec. They just had to grab their cleats.”

Morgan quipped from the back, “This is a really nice house they live in! Do they have it all to themselves?”

“Noooo they share it. We call it the soccer house! Ashlyn and Ali, who you met yesterday live there too and then Crystal and her roomie JJ are in the 3rd bedroom. You’ll meet those two at practice later. Ash usually drives Tobin and Christen and the rest of her roommates, but those two had a late yoga class or something and needed a ride, so here we are!”

“Tobin and yoga? I just didn’t get that kinda vibe from her yesterday! She seemed like super chill, but like none of her limbs could ever stop moving at the same time.” Questioned Emily.

“Before Christen, Tobs wouldn’t have been caught dead in the yoga studio, but CP has her wrapped around her little finger. Now she’s there every chance she gets. It’d be cute if they weren’t so grossly adorable.” Kelley smirked at Emily.

“Oh! Uh that’s cool I guess.” Stammered Emily.

“Yeah, it was kinda weird for me and Alex when Tobin got tied down cause we used to be like the 3 musketeers, but Chris makes her happy, so what can you do?” Kelley shrugged.

“Uh huh.” Emily tried to keep her responses neutral.

“It’s not like they’re the first of our teammates to date, Ash and Ali have been together forever, but it’s different when it’s one of your best friends, you know?”

“Oh yeah, that sounds hard…” Emily spaced out comprehending what Kelley had just told her.

Christen and Tobin joined them in the car and the radio blasted to life as they drove the 10 minutes to the field. Emily felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She surreptitiously pulled it out and turned the screen away from Kelley.

Moe: ALERT ALERT we may have just found members to invite to the Secret Squirrel Squad!!! You can try to go to lunch with Ashlyn, Ali, Tobin or Christen!!! It’s like the motherlode of gay yodas fell into our laps!

The text was finished with about 20 squirrel emojis which Emily thought was both odd and incredibly hilarious.

Emily: Ok, Squirrel Squad Leader, calm down I heard her too. I’ll figure it out once we’re at the field. Now stop texting me while were in the same car so I don’t look so suspicious!

The ride was uneventful from there and Emily was lost in contemplation. Quickly they arrived at the pitch.

“Alright soccer superstars butts out of the vehicle! Lets go kick some grass!”

Tryouts were exactly as low key as Alex had promised and Emily found herself feeling right at home amongst the girls. Christen, Crystal, and Alex were all lethal forwards, Tobin was like a magician with the ball at her feet, and Ash was insane in goal, diving headers and coming up big every other moment. There were a few other midfielders that Moe was learning to play with that Emily didn’t get a chance to meet, but it just seemed like a big footie family and she knew this was gonna be her happy place.

Emily spent most of the tryout with the defenders, which meant she was teamed up with Ali, Julie (who turned out to be JJ), their captain Becky, and Kelley. When Emily realized she and Kelley would be doing drills together she started to panic, but Ali was so welcoming and calming, despite her perfect looking bun and flawless mascara, that she made it through the practice without majorly embarrassing herself.

There was a close call when Kelley gave her a butt smack after a particularly impressive tackle and Emily could feel the massive blush and goofy grin on her face. Kelley had followed it up with a “Nice work Sonny!” and a wink and Emily thought she was gonna pass out. Thankfully she held it together and only caught herself marveling at Kelley’s insane speed and endless stamina once. Chalk that up as a point in the win column!

As the practice came to a close, the girls gathered around Becky panting and wiping sweat from their flushed cheeks.

“Nice work ladies! Grab some water and giver yourselves a nice pat on the back. Really great effort from the newbies, I’m pleased with your skills. Happy to welcome you to the team, no cuts necessary.”

Moe whooped loudly and the group laughed good-naturedly.

“Haha yes, I’m excited about it too.” Becky grinned and continued. “So the team is pretty straightforward. We have practice on Sundays and Wednesdays and games about once a month on the weekends. We expect you’ll workout as needed for your own fitness, but really it’s all fun and games so don’t stress too hard about it. Also we have a tradition on the team of assigning buddies to the new members each week for the first few weeks to help foster camaraderie and get to know one another! Your buddies know who they are and they’ll be asking you for a lunch date or coffee and the like before you all leave today, so don’t run away too fast! Alright everyone gather round and we’ll do a team on three. 1, 2, 3!”

The team cheered and the gals started to chatter to one another, happy to be reunited and excited about the season to come. Emily looked around expectantly for her buddy and Ali motioned kindly for her to come over to where she and Ash were sitting and stretching.

“Hey Emily! You did great today, really gave me run for the money out there.” Ali patted her on the back encouragingly. “So I’m you buddy this week! Do you have classes around lunchtime on Tuesday? We could meet over at the little café next to the library around noon?” asked Ali.

“That sounds perfect! I am done with my Intro to Psych lecture at 11:30 and it’s not too far from the library. Here let me give you my number in case we need to change the plan or anything.” Emily handed her phone to Ali and Ali did the same.

While they were chatting and exchanging contact info Kelley ran over to their little pow wow and knelt down to Emily’s level. “Hey Em, I have to go run some errands with Alex, Tobin, and Christen before classes tomorrow, is it ok if you grab a ride back to campus with Ashlyn? She’s got a massive van for her music gear, so there’s totally space for you and Moe even with Ali, Crystal, and JJ. Normally I wouldn’t ask cause I made a promise to you, but Alex gets a little cranky if you don’t do what she wants and I really don’t feel like upsetting the Princess today and…”

Kelley was rambling a bit with her playful grin ever present, so Emily reached out and put her hand on Kelley’s arm to stop her.

“Kell don’t worry about it, as long as Moe and I get back to the dorm in one piece, it’s all good. Go do your errands.” Emily tried to pour sincerity into her voice. She didn’t want the chipper girl to feel unhappy about ditching when it really wasn’t a big deal to her. In fact, she was kinda glad for the break because it gave her time to process everything in peace. “Honestly, it’s cool!”

Kelley smiled and ruffled Emily’s hair, “Awesomesauce, you’re the best Sonny! Good luck with your first day tomorrow. Georgia peach powerrrr!” She blew a kiss to Ash and waved to Ali, “Get the girls home safe, you hear? Byeeee.” Per usual she bounded away at pace leaving the trio lost for words.

Ash jangled her keys in front of the girls. “Alright ladies, to the shaggin’ wagon!”

Ali look at Ashlyn with a horrified expression and lightly shoved her. “ASHLYN MICHELLE HARRIS that is not what we call the van in polite company!” Ali turned to Emily and rolled her eyes, “I’m sorry for her behavior, sometimes I think she was raised in a barn.”

Ashlyn wrapped her arms around Ali from behind, “I’m sorry babe. How’s this, your chariot awaits you m’lady!”

Ali giggled, “Much better!” She pecked the muscular keeper on the cheek. “Race you to the car! Emily, get Moe, JJ, and Crystal pleaseeee!” And she was off running with Ashlyn scampering behind her.

Emily looked on admiringly. Wow, they seem so happy she thought to herself. I cannot wait for my lunch with Ali on Tuesday!

The car ride back to campus was cheerful and Moe and Emily laughed the whole way home as Crystal entertained them with her version of car dancing and Ashlyn tried to impress everyone with her "rap skills". Once they got to the dorm, the roommate pair made quick work of their showers and shoveled in their dinner hungrily after the satisfying, but sweaty practice. Finally, after a dorm meeting wishing everyone luck and reminding them of their rules and responsibilities and then phone calls to their respective parents to assure them that yes they were alive and were eating well and were taking their vitamins, the two were snuggled in their respective beds exhausted from the long day. Emily filled Moe in on her scheduled lunch with the relationship guru Ali aka excellent progress made by the Secret Squirrel Squad. Moe reacted in typical fashion.

“This is so great! I just know we’re gonna beast our first classes tomorrow and practice went so well today and I’m just so happy. Do you ever just feel blessed Em? Cause I feel unironic hashtag blessed.”

Emily felt her smile reach her ears. “Yeah Moe, I think blessed is appropriate.”

Morgan yawned. “Well goodnight roomie! Tomorrow we will officially be college freshmen!!!”

“Haha yep! Good night Moe.”

Emily heard Morgan’s breathing start to even out and she was asleep in a flash. Emily was just about ready to drift off to sleep herself when she felt her phone buzz on the night stand.

Kelley: You made it home in one piece, yeah?

Emily: Yep, I’m still all shiny and new!

Kelley: Aw good, I wouldn’t want to dull your sparkle. Good luck tomorrow Em, you’re gonna rock your first day :D

Emily: Thanks! Good luck to you too! Nighty night. Oh and goodnight to the squirrels on your pajamas!

Kelley: HA! The squirrels send their good night wishes as do I.

Kelley had attached a selfie with her stuffed squirrel and a massive grin. Emily laughed quietly, making sure to not wake Morgan. She contemplated her response and the snark level to go along with it.

Emily: Awwww! He’s so cute! Not so sure about his friend though… she looks a little deranged.

Kelley: I’ll have you know Chester’s friend is completely sane and has been told recently that she always looks amazing!

Emily: Oh really? I’ll take your word for it ;) Good night for real though, I’m about to pass out with this phone on my face lol.

Kelley: Sweet dreams Em!

Emily tucked her phone away and hugged her stuffed Owl to her chest. Morgan was totally right, they were definitely unironic hashtag blessed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Precious no? Definitely drop me a note if you like it/have questions/want to say hi or anything lol.


	5. Chapter 5 - All's Fair in Love and Footie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Midweek treat, new chapter! Hope you all like it. Kudos and comments appreciated :)

Emily woke up on her first day of freshmen year with the perfect combination of excitement and terror. The butterflies in her stomach were both exhilarating and yet they made her feel like she might vomit any second. She had picked out that perfect first day of school outfit, with Moe’s assistance of course, and she knew where all her classes were, but she still couldn’t quiet her nerves. As she grabbed her phone to turn off her alarm, she saw quite a few texts wishing her luck. The typical “congrats, we’re so proud of you, how did you grow up so fast” from her parents were cute and also embarrassing and the thumbs up selfie from her twin, Emma, was just the right sisterly touch, the overly excited stream of emojis from Moe was hilarious (Morgan had class at the ungodly hour of 8:30 and Emily had been polite, but firm that she would not be joining her in waking up that early), but the last one she wasn’t expecting and it sent a warm flutter through her body.

Kelley: Happy first day freshie!!! What time is your first class? Want to join me for breakfast? Gotta fuel that mind for that college education! :D

Emily looked at the time stamp on the text. It was from over an hour ago. Drat! She rushed to answer and hoped that Kelley wasn’t in class yet.

Emily: Just woke up, you still down for breakfast? Happy first day!

Emily watched the little typing bubbles on her screen and chewed her lip anxiously. Could Kelley type any slower?! The buzz in her hand was a welcome relief.

Kelley: I’m in class right now :( Rain check for dinner? I have lab that goes through lunch on Mondays.

Emily: Oooo someone’s a thrill seeker! Texting in class! Tsk tsk. Yes to dinner though. Just come find me in my room any time after 5 and we’ll go!

Kelley: It’s called imessage dummy. I’m typing on the computer and looking like the picture perfect notetaking student! Gotta learn these tricks youngster.

Emily: Oh! I didn’t know grandmas like you were up on the macbook tricks! Color me surprised.

Kelley: Don’t start with me calling me grandma!!! I know where you live!

Emily giggled as she imagined Kelley’s disgruntled face while typing that message.

Emily: Alright, alright, I’ll give you a pass this once because you realllllyyy should be paying attention in class. See you for dinner!

Kelley: Ugh fine I’ll take notes for real. See ya!

With a smile on her face, Emily pocketed her phone and got ready to tackle her first college classes. Her text exchange with Kelley had stilled the butterflies in her stomach and all that was left was excitement for the day to come and anticipation for their dinner.

………………………

The rest of the day went off without a hitch. Emily’s Intro to Sociology lecture was pretty chill and the professor said one of the papers would be about the sociological implications of the movie Crash, which seemed so collegiate to her. In high school they would never get to watch movies unless there was a sub or something. Her freshman seminar seemed super boring and the professor’s mole with the longest hair in it she’d ever seen was like Disney villain status, but she found an amusing classmate, a nice midfielder from the team named Rose who she hadn’t gotten to talk to at practice yesterday. She knew they were going to be fast friends after Rose made her shoot soda out of her nose at lunch after class with her excited shimmying at the dessert selection in the cafeteria.

Her last class of the day was Italian and she got super lucky because Tobin was in the class with her and she got assigned as her workbook partner for the semester since they ended up sitting next to each other. Tobin was absolutely hopeless reading the short passages aloud, butchering the phrasing and flourishing wildly with her hands and Emily struggled to keep tears of laughter from streaming down her face. It was such a contrast to her wizardry on the soccer pitch that it made it even more wildly adorable. She knew that class would be a great way to end the day for the rest of the semester. When class was over Tobin turned to Emily.

“You heading back to your dorm? I was gonna go over there and hang out with Kelley for a bit. Christen has an advanced yoga class she teaches on Mondays that she said I am not quote “balanced” enough for, so I asked Kel to chill. Wanna walk together?”

Emily nodded. “Yep, I’m heading that way. Lets go!”

As they walked the 10 minutes to the dorm, Tobin dribbled and juggled the soccer ball she had pulled from her bag, trying to meg Emily every time she thought she wasn’t looking while they chatted warmly.

Tobin flicked the ball and caught it with her neck, then looked up at Emily and waggled her eyebrows, “You got any tricks with the ball Sonnett?”

Emily laughed, “I’m not a wizard like you, but I’m a pretty masterful juggler with my hands! I can do three balls in the air at once!”

“Nice! You’ll have to bust that out at one of our parties sometime. I think Ash is planning one at the soccer house soon, but I’ll ask around for the deets. Everyone always ends up trying to one up each other at these ragers and more often than not it ends in intoxicated races through the street which inevitably leads to drunken crying, but it’s always a good time” Tobin smiled warmly as she spoke.

“Oh man, that sounds intense, I didn’t really drink in high school…” Emily looked down nervously.

“Oh don’t worry about it! There’s a few girls who don’t drink at all and we would never pressure you to do something you didn’t want to do. It’s more about bonding anyway, you’ll be fine, I promise.”

Emily smiled and nodded. “Ok, I trust you. Plus I’m willing to go anywhere that I get to showcase my juggling skills” joked Emily.

Tobin laughed and made her 4th successful meg attempt through Emily’s legs. Having enough of Tobin’s antics, Emily stole the ball and started dribbling at speed towards her dorm. Tobin looked up, with her confused puppy dog eyes and seemed unsure of how to function without the ball at her feet.

Emily looked back and shouted, “Want it back, gotta catch me first!”

Emily felt like she was flying. There was no greater feeling than running with the ball, even with a moderately heavy backpack on her back. As she neared her residence hall, she saw the perfect opportunity.

“Morgan, think fast!” She lofted a perfect pass to land at her roomie’s feet.

Morgan caught on quick, starting to play keep away from Tobin with Emily. Shedding their backpacks and rolling up their sleeves, they successfully thwarted the fleet footed midfielder’s attempts, laughing and trash talking all the while. About 5 minutes into their game, Emily got startled by a mysterious shout from 3 floors above her.

“Teamies who said you were allowed to have fun without me?!” Emily looked up to see a familiar freckled face leaning out her window. “Don’t leave losers, I’m coming down and I will school alllll of you” and with that lovely sentiment she popped back inside.

Tobin was able to steal the ball during Emily’s distraction and shouted with glee, “YASSSSS VICTORY!!!” She fist pumped wildly.

“Not fair, Kelley confused me!” Emily pouted.

“All’s fair in love and footie!” winked Tobin.

Emily felt the color in her cheeks rising and was grateful she could attribute it to the flush from running around, but she did see Moe smirk out of the corner of her eye and she shot her a swift glare. Moe shrugged and mouthed, “Sorry not sorry!” and motioned for Tobin to pass to her. Suddenly Emily felt a muscled pair of arms wrap around her from behind.

“Gotcha!” Kelley loosened her arms and flipped Emily around to face her. “How was your first day?! Are you officially a genius now?” Kelley’s enthusiasm and genuine interest in her day warmed Emily’s heart.

“It was great! Uh, I was already a genius, but I’m pretty sure my 3 classes today tipped the scales to super genius status” Emily grinned widely.

“Ha! You wish!” Emily shoved her playfully at the comment and Kelley continued. “I’m glad your first day went well though. You’ll have to tell me more about it at dinner, but for now get ready to get your ass whupped at monkey in the middle!” She smacked Emily on the butt in that damn confusing way of hers and took off sprinting, waving and shouting for the ball.

Emily didn’t let herself remain flustered this time, determined to show Kelley she could play the game too. She ran after Kelley, who had acquired the ball and was dancing with it at her feet. She started to stalk her slowly as only the best defenders do, keeping her eye on the ball and not KO’s feet. Then she had a brilliant idea.

“Oh my god Kelley! You have a massive spider on you!” She pointed at her with a horrified expression.

Kelley whirled around frantically, “Where? Where? GET IT OFF ME!!!” and Emily swooped in to steal the ball. She stopped about 10 feet away with her hands on her hips and her eyebrow raised playfully. Tobin was rolling in the grass cackling at Kelley’s spider dance and Morgan just stood there with an amused glint in her eye.

Eventually Kelley stopped her patting and flailing and scowled at Emily.

“That was completely unfair. Spiders are no joke!” Kelley brushed her shoulder on more time to get the imaginary spider.

Tobin got up from her laughing fit and jogged by Kelley to get the ball from Emily “All’s fair in love and footie!” she crowed happily. “You gonna keep pouting or are you gonna play!” Kelley caught Emily’s eye and Emily could see the dangerous glimmer in her gaze from across the grass.

“Oh we’re gonna play!”

40 minutes and lots of tackles later the 4 of them were out of breath, laid out on the grass. Emily was enjoying the warmth of the sun on her face and the feeling of Kelley’s arm just barely grazing hers when her stomach grumbled hungrily. Kelley turned her head to face Emily with a look of glee. She placed her ear on Emily’s stomach, pretending to listen intently.

“What was that grumbly? It’s dinner time?!” She poked at Emily’s abs and pushed herself to sit up, brushing against the exposed skin below Emily’s shirt hem on her way to standing. Emily’s breath caught in her throat at the unexpected contact and she didn’t even have time to be embarrassed by her stomach’s noisy betrayal because of the distraction of the burning skin by her hip. Kelley put out a hand to pull her up and Emily allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.

“Lets go gals, last one to the pizza buffet’s a rotten egg!”

………………………

Dinner was confusing and enjoyable for Emily per usual. She laughed heartily at Tobin’s deadpan humor, enjoyed Morgan’s surprisingly sarcastic wit, and packed in her food happily. Alex and Christen joined them about halfway through the meal having come from Christen’s class and Tobin’s eyes lit up at the sight of her girlfriend.

“Babe! How was your class?” Tobin pecked the olive skinned beauty on the cheek.

“Wonderful! Morgan, Emily do you do yoga? I know Tobin and Kelley have too many ants in their pants for my advanced class, but I’d love to see you in there sometime!” Christen sat down at the table and Morgan started talking to her about a yoga fail she experienced during soccer recovery in high school.

Throughout the meal she could feel Kelley’s feet and arm glancing hers with what seemed to be more and more purpose and while she didn’t jump out of her chair this time around, Emily just wasn’t ready to engage. She mostly sat quietly nodding and chuckling at the appropriate moments. She was really hoping her conversation with Ali tomorrow would help her settle her thoughts. She finished up her meal and smiled at the rest of the table.

“Hey y’all I already got a ton of reading for my freshman seminar, so I’m gonna head back to my room, but dinner was fun! We should make it a Monday tradition.”

“Stellar idea Em!” Kelley clapped her on the shoulder. “Monday night family dinner! It’s a date!” Emily smiled at Kelley and gathered her tray and stood up.

“Great, well I’ll see you all on Wednesday at practice! Morgan, you gonna stay or do you wanna go back now?” Morgan stood up too.

“I’m done, lets go! Bye y’all!”

The pair retreated from the table to a chorus of byes and see yas. They walked back to the dorm and Emily listened intently as Morgan told her all about the cute TA in her Intro to Physiology class. As they changed into sweats and got comfy for their first night of homework, Emily was still fairly quiet. Morgan looked at her curiously.

“Cat got your tongue? You’ve been really quiet since we got to dinner!”

“I’m just thinking. Trying to figure out what to ask Ali tomorrow, you know?” Emily gathered her laptop and books onto her bed.

“OH YEAH! I forgot! Secret Squirrel Squad will be gaining its newest member tomorrow!” Moe chattered happily. “You’re gonna do great, don’t overthink it! If you’re not ready to talk to her about Kelley or your questions yet, then don’t force it. Just let the conversation flow naturally and you know Ali seems like a sweetheart, so no matter what it’ll be fun.” Emily looked over at her roommate.

“Really Moe, that was exactly what I needed to her” sighed Emily gratefully. “Remind me to stop stewing in my head and just talk it out next time I look like I’m caught inside a thought tornado.” Emily laughed at her own joke.

“Anytime roomie” Moe smiled and the two settled into what was likely to be their new routine, listening to Spotify and grumbling through reading/assignments. Tomorrow would be a new day and Emily would try to muddle through some of the crazy feelings that a certain Miss O’Hara seemed to inspire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do people think? Is the pace too slow? Would you rather have longer chapters and less frequent updates? Any feedback is welcome!


	6. Chapter 6 - How did you Know?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Sunday! Did everyone enjoy the NWSL games this weekend? None of my faves did so hot, so it was a bit of a bummer. Hope you enjoy the chapter :)

Emily whistled cheerfully as she made her way to her first class of the day. Morgan had gone with her to breakfast that morning and the dining hall was serving a make your own waffle bar with whipped cream AND fruit compote, so MAJOR SCORE, she had seen the cutest puppy outside the dining hall and gotten major petting points, plus she was having lunch with Ali after her Psych lecture. It was gonna be an awesome Tuesday! With pep in her step, Emily walked into her lecture hall and took a seat in the 6th row center (not too close to get called on all the time, but not so far away that she looked like a slacker.) As she was getting out her laptop and some of the notetaking supplies that motherly Moe had insisted upon, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Well, well, well, looks like we have a class together Sonny!”

Emily didn’t need to turn around in her seat, she already knew who was about to sit next to her. She laughed quietly and prepared to fire off a sassy quip.

“Oh wow, I didn’t know they let engineers out of their lab cages to grace us in the humanities with their presence! Kelley this is a class where you have to actually read, you sure you want to be here?” Emily’s eyes glinted fiercely as she teased the golden eyed gal in front of her.

Kelley gasped loudly and placed her hands dramatically on her chest, “Emily! You cut me to the quick! How will I ever go on knowing this is what you think of me?!”

She histrionically collapsed into her chair in the lecture hall and pretended to fan herself. Other classmates looked at Kelley, curious as to why she was making a scene.

Emily flushed an embarrassed shade of crimson and hissed, “Kelley, stop it, everyone is looking at us!”

“Let them look! They should know you have such a low opinion of engineers!” Kelley continued her shenanigans.

Emily whispered urgently, “If I say I’m sorry will you stop? Our professor’s gonna be here any minute!!!”

Kelley looked up at Emily’s flustered face, her blonde fly-aways falling out of her ponytail as she got more agitated. She found a particularly loose piece of hair and gently placed it behind Emily’s ear.

“I’ll stop because you look like cute when you’re about to explode, but I wouldn’t want to be responsible for cleaning up all the little pieces of Emily brain from this disgusting classroom floor” Kelley sat up primly and crossed her hands in her lap, smirking a bit.

Pushing that cute comment to the back of her brain, she finally relaxed back in her chair. “Oh my god, are you always this embarrassing?” Emily sighed.

Kelley grinned widely, “ALWAYS.” And the professor walked in to start the class.

The lecture went smoothly from there and Emily learned what it was like to sit next to Kelley in class. She couldn’t sit still and tapped her leg almost constantly. She took notes sporadically, but raised her hand excitedly when she had a question or a point. Whenever she was giving an answer, her eyes sparkled. And damn was Kelley SMART. Everything she said was like next level intelligent and Emily found herself gaping at one of her answers. When Kelley finished talking she smugly pushed Emily’s chin up from it’s wide open position and whispered

“And you thought I couldn’t read.” She winked and turned back to face the professor.

Emily looked over at the freckled ball of energy next to her and stared. Holy crap, I’m so in over my head. She shook herself out of her thoughts and focused on the class.

“You wanna grab some grub? I don’t have class until 2.” Kelley put her class supplies away and looked up at Emily eagerly.

“I’m so sorry, but I already have plans with Ali! You know the buddy thing? Otherwise I totally would love to! Raincheck?” Emily overcompensated a bit in her rush to convey sincerity over not being able to go to lunch.

“No worries, we can go to lunch after class on Thursday! You’re stuck with me twice a week all semester, so we’ve got time haha. Maybe I’ll catch you in the dorm later? Tell Ali I say hi!” she fist bumped Emily’s shoulder and made her way out the door. Emily gathered her belongings and checked her phone where there was a text from Ali.

Ali: Hey! I got out of class early and have a table at the café! It’s towards the back and I’m doing work on my laptop. Just head on over when you’re done :)

Emily: On my way!!! Thanks for grabbing a table.

Emily pocketed her phone and made her way quickly across campus to the cozy café next to the library. It was the perfect spot for catching up and confusing Kelley conversations.

………………………

Ali’s face lit up when she saw Emily enter the café and she waved happily to the lanky blonde, “Over here Emily!”

Emily rushed over to the table and took in Ali’s perfect tresses and put together athleisure wear and started to second guess herself that she’d be able to talk to the older girl about her problems, but Ali smiled and pulled her into a hug and she remembered just how genuinely likeable Ali was.

“Hey Ali, thanks again for getting the table.” Emily sat down and caught her breath from her jog across campus.

“Not a big deal at all! It was my pleasure. How have classes been going for you?” Ali leaned in to listen.

“Oh well they’ve been pretty good so far…” Emily got started on recapping her week and listened to Ali talk about her first couple days as well. They ordered and ate their food contentedly as the conversation flowed. Emily waited for a natural pause and mustered up the nerve to ask the question she had been formulating since she and Moe had talked about it the night before.

“Hey Ali? Can I ask you kind of a personal question? You totally don’t have to answer cause I know we just met and I wouldn’t expect you to like feel comfortable with me yet, but it would be really great if you did and…”

Ali interrupted chuckling, “Emily calm down. Why don’t you ask the question and we’ll see if I feel like answering, ok?”

Emily laughed nervously, “Yeahhhh haha ok. Um well I was wondering how did you and Ashlyn start dating? Like how did you know you like girls?” Emily bumbled through her sentence, her throat was dry as a bone, and she couldn’t look Ali in the eye.

Ali smiled gently. “Is that all? I thought maybe you were gonna ask me how to bury a dead body or something?! Wasn’t sure what kind of stuff you’re into Sonnett” Ali teased the blushing blonde.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Emily finally looked up at Ali and let out the breath she was holding. “Is that ok?”

“Of course! I’m happy to talk to you about it. I just have to ask though, is there a reason you want to talk to me about liking girls?” Ali looked at Emily knowingly.

Emily froze across the table and drummed her fingers as she gathered her courage. “Ummmm well ummm Moe and I were talking about my crush and I wasn’t even sure if it was a crush and how it might be a girl and that’s never happened to me before and she told me that I needed to find someone who had better gaydar than her to talk to about this and we call you the gay yoda and then she came up with the Secret Squirrel Squad to deal with my feelings and I have no idea what I’m doing and I’m just so confused and can you help me please?!?!?” Her words rushed out in a mess of word vomit and she finally took a deep breath. Emily looked at Ali pleadingly.

“Wow. Ok. Not sure what to do with that yet, we’ll put a pin in your issues and I’ll just take a crack at telling you about me and Ash! Pretty sure we’d need more than the 40 minutes left before I have to go to class to handle all that you seem to have inside!” Ali laughed softly and put her hand on Emily’s to comfort the still ruffled girl.

Emily shrugged a little self-conscious, “Yeah, I didn’t really know I was gonna say all that. Sorry!”

“It’s ok, I remember what it was like to be confused” responded Ali genuinely. “When I first got to college I had never thought about dating a girl in my life. I had a long term boyfriend in high school and we’d been pretty happy and it had all just seemed normal, you know?”

Emily nodded because she knew that was what she was supposed to do.

“Our first club practice I saw Ash in goal and it was like I got struck by lightning. I swear I fell over on the pitch like a damn fool. I’d never been affected like that by another human being before. Needless to say, I flipped out. I avoided her as much as possible, which isn’t so easy when you’re a defender and she’s a keeper, but I had no idea how to handle what was happening. Eventually I broke down and just started hanging out with Ash because being away from her was even harder. She was magnetic. We became basically like best friends, inseparable and each other’s favorite people, but I didn’t acknowledge that I had feelings for her. Ashlyn was like gay as a rainbow and everyone knew it, but she didn’t seem to want to talk about it either.”

Emily was listening intently, wrapped up in the story. So much so that she didn’t notice the ketchup dripping from the fry that only made it halfway to her mouth.

Ali continued, “At the end of first semester we had a secret Santa exchange and I didn’t know it, but Ashlyn got me. I opened my gift at our party and it was a song she had written for me along with a picture of us in a really beautiful frame. When I saw the gift and how thoughtful and perfect it was, I knew it was time to embrace the fear. I asked Ash to go for a walk with me and basically attack kissed her under the mistletoe. I think Ashlyn turned red from the tips of her toes to her nose, but she was so happy. We snuggled the rest of the night at the party and the team kept nudging each other and pointing, but we didn’t care. The rest is history! Pretty cheesy right?” Ali beamed.

“Wow, no that’s not cheesy at all! It sounds wonderful.” Emily replied with awe in her voice.

“It WAS wonderful. Completely and utterly terrifying, but wonderful” Ali sighed. “I hate to do this to you Em, but I really do have to go to class. Do you want to grab lunch this time next week? We can talk more and maybe you can tell me who is inspiring you to do some soul searching? Of course, you can always text me if you need to talk to me sooner, but we could do like a weekly Tuesday lunch! Also this one is on me. Buddy treat!” Ali paid up the bill and started to gather her belongings.

“Yeah, I’d like a weekly lunch a lot. Thanks Ali! I really mean it, knowing I can talk to you already makes my life less stressful.” Emily smiled.

“Great! Well I’ll see you at practice tomorrow anyway. Have an awesome afternoon!” She gave Emily a side hug as she moved around the table and hustled to her next class. Emily looked down at her phone and realized she probably needed to head over to class too.

………………………

Emily flopped down on to her bed face first and groaned loudly. Morgan looked up from her desk curiously. “Long day roomie?”

“Oh my God you have NO IDEA. So you know my Intro to Psych class? Well Kelley is taking it too, so there was all sorts of embarrassment this morning and then I had a wonderful lunch with Ali where I heard all about her love story which was sickeningly cute, but I kinda made a fool of myself with my inability to form sentences and coherent thoughts and then the crazy part of my day happened.” Emily paused for effect.

Moe crossed her legs at her desk chair and leaned forward intrigued. “Oooooo do tell!”

“So you know that Intro to Geology course I signed up for? It was definitely not rocks for jocks. I arrived and I was one of two girls in the class and the only freshman and the Professor started talking about planetary geology and meteorites and his research in Antarctica and I looked down at the syllabus and I somehow signed up for a 300 level Geology course! Morgan I cannot do advanced level rocks! Ughhhh I need a science for my breadth requirements!” Emily whined and fell back on her pillow.

“Calm down there whiney pants. That’s kinda hilarious that you signed up for an advanced upperclassman science, so can we at least laugh for like a second before I fix it?” Moe smirked.

“Fineeeee, but only for a second” Emily glared, but couldn’t stay mad at the bubbly brunette. “You know what was great about the class though? I met a nice sophomore theatre major who told me about juggling club! I’m gonna join and get my juggle on” said Emily.

“Nice! We’re beasting this extracurricular thing in college! As for your class, you know what we’re gonna do? We’re gonna sign you up for nutrition science with me instead! It’s basically like cooking and eating and you get science credit! I had the first class this afternoon at the same time as your class and it was totally amazing. So, am I the best roommate in the world?” Morgan smiled and lifted her hand for a high five.

Emily couldn’t hold back her excitement and went in for a hug instead of the high five. “YES! You are the best!” She lifted the lightweight girl and twirled her around the room starting to shout. “I can’t keep it to myself. “MORGAN PAIGE BRIAN IS THE GREATEST ROOMMATE IN THE WORLD AND I DON’T CARE WHO KNOWS IT!!!!” As Emily kept swinging her bean pole of a roommate around the room, their door creaked open and a head popped in.

“What’s the lovefest going on in here about and how does one get in on it?”

Emily stopped suddenly and turned around to face Kelley. She was gasping for breath and laughing from her exertions. “Moe just saved me from failing out of college before we’ve even started, so we had to celebrate!”

Kelley started jumping up and down excitedly, “Don’t stop celebrating on my account!!! Yay for not failing college!!!!” She looked like a little kid on Christmas and it was truly endearing.

The trio kept jumping and laughing and being silly until they couldn’t breathe and collapsed giggling onto Emily’s bed. Emily could feel Kelley’s breath tickling her neck and she didn’t flinch as Kelley snuggled a bit into her side. She felt the hum of Kelley’s voice on her arm.

“Yo before we got sidetracked, I was coming to ask if you two want to come into town for dinner with me and Alex. She needs some sort of new mascara thing she saw on Buzzfeed, I don’t know she’s crazy, and I figured we could make an evening out of it!” Emily turned her face and Kelley’s was about 2 inches from hers and her eyes were enormous. She swallowed thickly as she heard Moe answer from behind her.

“We’d love to! Right Emily?” Morgan poked her in the back and Emily snapped out of it and sat up.

“Yes, sounds great!”

Kelley sat up too and got to her feet. “Awesome, we’ll meet downstairs in a half hour. If you have any errands or anything, just put a list together and we’ll get it done!” She moved towards the door. “See you soon!”

Morgan and Emily laid back down against the bed. “Well that was intense” said Morgan. “If she doesn’t like you like you, I’ll eat my hat!” Emily laughed and shoved her roommate to the ground.

“You’re such a dork Moe!” Emily smiled nonetheless. “Let’s get ready for dinner!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I signed up for planetary geology by accident my freshman year and wasn't smart enough to drop it until the week before Thanksgiving. Thank goodness for freshman forgiveness drop policies lol.
> 
> Per usual, drop me a note if you feel like it. Favorite moments? Things you'd like to see?


	7. Chapter 7 - Damaged Goods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst alert ahead haha. If you're not into that, you have been warned!

Just like Sunday, Morgan and Emily were downstairs in the dorm lobby waiting for Kelley.

“Why does she even say in a half hour if she’s not gonna be ready in a half hour?” huffed an overly anxious Emily. She was twirling her ID lanyard nervously and was starting to twitch a bit.

“We really need to get you into Christen’s yoga class. You’ve seriously got to master the art of zen” Morgan eyed Emily warily. “Stop that with your lanyard, you’re gonna poke out your eye! I definitely would rather spend our evening out to dinner instead of the emergency room.”

Emily stopped her nervous ticks and flopped onto the common room couch and closed her eyes. Moe was right, this was ridiculous. No one should be this crazy about someone being five minutes late. Emily took some deep breaths and tried to find her center. A minute later she felt much better and opened her eyes only to have two golden eyes an inch away from her face. She screamed in shock and tumbled off the couch, all her limbs flailing.

“OH MY GOD THAT WAS SO MUCH BETTER THAN I EVER IMAGINED!!! Your shriek was like a mix between a seal and a train whistle and the whole thing was just a mess of pale appendages waving everywhere! Moe did you get the video?!?! Post it, post it!!!” Kelley slapped her knee as she was bent over at the waist laughing raucously.

“I got it!!! Insta world here comes your next top model, Ms. Sonnett!” Morgan sent the video into the cyber world, cementing Emily’s fate to be embarrassed by the devious pair.

Emily looked up from the floor at the still giggling and plotting brunettes. She sighed, “You two are gonna be the death of me, you know that?”

Kelley reached down to pull the blushing blonde up from the floor. Once Emily was standing she placed her arm around her shoulder and whispered, “Now we’re even for the pajamas kid.” She clapped her on the back and moved towards the door. Emily just stared at the confounding girl.

“Lets go get Alex and get our munch on!”

………………………  
“Do you think this is the exact one from the article? I want my lashes to be bolder and more beautiful than ever just like those girls from Buzzfeed! Kelley we have to go back and make sure” Alex pulled out her purchases from her shopping bag and scrutinized them carefully. The 4 girls had just been seated at their table in what KO described as “the raddest pizza joint in all of town” and were waiting for their gooey, cheesy goodness to arrive.

Kelley rolled her eyes, “What was that? Thank you Kelley most gracious friend of mine for driving me to the store for my ridiculous errand? Oh you’re welcome, most humble princess!” Kelley bowed as she talked, emphasizing her joke.

“Oh stop it you, is it so wrong to want to look nice!? Not all of us roll out of bed and throw on the closest joggers and snapback every morning.” Alex pouted.  
“I’m gonna ignore that because I happen to know I’m freaking hot.” Kelley smirked and continued.

”But first of all Al you already have the most gorgeous eyes, no mascara is gonna change that. Didn’t you notice Serv drooling all over you in our Chem class? You’ve been together for a year and he still gets that glassy-eyed, sickening look whenever you walk in a room!” Kelley made a gagging sound and Alex flicked her arm playfully.

“Second of all, I don’t care if it’s not the right product because I am never going back in Sephora again. That sales lady tried to attack me with like 5 different ways to minimize my pores and I’m not about that life and third of all if you make me leave this restaurant before I get to eat my pizza I will be seriously hangry and you will NOT like me when I’m hangry.” Kelley puffed up her chest and got a little red in the face as she went on her rant and Emily and Moe laughed at the bickering pair.  
“You two are just like an old married couple!” Moe chuckled.

“Just you wait until you and Emily finish freshman year! After a whole 9 months of living together you two will be just like us!” Kelley raised her eyebrow in warning. “You know Alex and I were supposed to room together again this year in sophomore housing til she ditched me for Serv’s suite! That’s why I’m in a single in y’all’s dorm. My roomie abandoned me and left me to rot with no prospects! I was a damsel in distress!” Kelley entertained the table with her hyperbolic story.

“Oh my god Kelley how long are you gonna hold that one over my head!? I’ve told you sorry like a million times. Maybe if you got laid once in awhile, you wouldn’t be so angsty about my happy relationship! It’s not my fault you can’t find someone to love you!” Alex huffed the latter part under her breath.

Kelley’s normally sparkly eyes darkened and she fell silent. She stood up quickly from the table and walked away. Morgan and Emily exchanged worried looks.

“Oh no, I shouldn’t have said that. Shit!” Alex put her face in her hands.

“Uh what’s going on? It didn’t seem like that weird of a thing for you to say…” Morgan questioned.

Alex sighed. “Kelley probably wouldn’t want me to tell you this, but you’re gonna find out eventually. She’s pretty touchy when it comes to relationships cause she’s been hurt before. Her senior year Kelley was dating her best friend and it ended pretty badly. They weren’t really out to their friends and families and had been keeping it a secret. Kelley wanted to come out and tell everyone before they left for college so they could figure out a way to make it work long term and Ann told her it was all just an experiment and it didn’t mean anything to her. She basically stopped talking to her and Kelley was the outcast in their friend group. Needless to say, Kel was crushed and she’s had a hard time trusting someone with her heart since. I shouldn’t have pushed her buttons. Ugh, I’m the worst!” Alex wrung her hands fretfully.

“Wow, that’s awful. Poor Kelley” Moe sympathized. “Em, why don’t you go find her?”

“ME? I have no idea what to say! Shouldn’t Alex go talk to her?” Emily stammered.

“I’m sure she’d much rather see you than me” muttered Alex, “She lights up whenever you’re around.”

Moe looked at Emily and mouthed, “go comfort her!” and raised her eyebrows. Emily got up from the table and looked around the restaurant. Where would I go if I were an upset Kelley? She thought to herself. She remembered Kelley’s delight at the dancing fountain when they walked into the mall and headed in that direction.

Kelley looked almost childlike as she trailed her hand in the water as the jets spouted up and down behind her. Emily stared at the downtrodden girl, trying to figure out her next steps. What do you say to someone who had their heart broken when you might want to be the one to fix it? Emily’s head swirled at all the new information and overwhelming feelings.

“I can see you Em, you can come over here. I don’t bite.” Emily blushed and walked over to sit next to Kelley on the fountain ledge. “Well I don’t bite unless someone asks me to.” She teased. Some of the sparkle returned to Kelley’s eyes as her fiery personality came out to play.

“Oh! Uhhh ok, um good to know.” Emily’s blush deepened furiously. The two sat in silence as Kelley continued to play with the water.

“I assume Alex told you about Ann…” Kelley didn’t look Emily in the eye as she mumbled.

“She did. I’m so sorry that happened to you. If it makes you feel any better, Alex is really upset about what she said. She just wasn’t thinking.” Emily tried to make eye contact with Kelley and when the brunette finally looked up her eyes were a little misty.

“I thought I’d be over it by now, you know?! It just still hurts and I wish it didn’t. She was the first person I ever loved and I feel like no one will ever love me now because I’m damaged goods.” Kelley sniffed.

Emily scooted closer to the despondent girl and wrapped her arm around her. Kelley set her head down into the crook of Emily’s neck and Emily stroked her hair, “You’re not damaged goods Kelley! Everyone gets hurt sometimes, it’s a part of life. What she did to you was really crappy and it’s ok that you still aren’t over it.” Emily sat up straight and lifted Kelley’s chin from her shoulder. She wiped a tear from Kelley’s cheek.

Emily took a deep breath, looked Kelley in the eye and softly spoke to her “I promise you, you aren’t unlovable. There’s someone out there who would be insanely lucky to have you and maybe they’re not ready for you yet, but they’re out there.” She tried to pour meaning into her words, mentally urging Kelley to understand what she was saying.

Kelley looked at her with her head tipped to one side. She lifted her hand and placed it on Emily’s shoulder. Emily stopped breathing, she was sure Kelley was about to kiss her. The blood in her ears was pounding and she didn’t know if she could handle any of this. Time seemed to stand still and then Kelley grabbed Emily into a hug and whispered, “I can wait.” into her ear. She pulled back from the hug.

Kelley broke the resulting silence, laughing and dabbing at her eyes with her sweatshirt sleeve. “Oh my god, I must look a snotty mess and I totally wrecked your shirt with my tears.”

Emily shrugged, “I didn’t like this shirt that much anyway.” She smiled at the considerably happier girl. “You ready to go back and make sure Moe and Alex don’t eat all the pizza without us?”

Kelley grabbed Emily’s hand, “Oh you know there’s no way I’d miss out on pizza time! Lets go!” and the pair walked hand in hand back to the pizza shop.

………………………

Dinner had gone relatively smoothly after Emily and Kelley rejoined the group. The tension between Kelley and Alex was still noticeable and they obviously still had to work some of their issues out, but pizza heals most wounds and by the time they got back to the car Kelley was jamming along to the radio and cracking jokes like her normal self. She dropped off the freshmen at the dorm and Morgan and Emily knew she and Alex were going to have a long heart to heart so they didn’t question why Kelley wasn’t coming back to the dorm with them. They all exchanged goodbyes and shouts of excitement over seeing each other at practice the next day.

“I think I’m gonna burst. Em, you need to roll me to the room, I can’t possibly move another step.” Morgan complained loudly as the walked into their dorm.

“Maybe next time you’ll think twice about eating 6 slices!” Emily teased.

“Ugh don’t remind me unless you want me to hurl on your shoes.” The skinny girl did look a bit green in the face.

Emily laughed heartily, “Alright pukey, let’s get you upstairs then.” She patted her back, “Hop on, I’ll piggy back you to the room!”

The pair giggled and clumsily made it safely home. They got changed for bed and settled into their desks to do some reading before hitting the sack. A couple hours and many pages and playlists later, Morgan yawned.

“Ok, I’m completely fried. You wanna hit the lights and go to sleep?”

“I thought you’d never ask, if I have to read another sentence about the historical foundations of modern psychology I’m gonna explode!” Emily shut her book firmly.

The two got into their beds and Emily was scrolling through her facebook in the dark of their room, when she heard her roommate softly call her name.

“Emily? Do you want to talk about what you said to Kelley?”

Emily rolled over, “Not tonight, I think I want to process it a little more, ok?”

“Of course! You let me know when you’re ready.” Emily could hear the smile in her voice. “Goodnight!”

“Goodnight.” Emily started to get ready to charge her phone and actually go to sleep when a text came through.

Kelley: Thank you. I mean it.

Emily knew she was serious from the lack of normal emojis or emoticons.

Emily: Anytime. I mean it.

She smiled. She put her phone away and fell asleep, dreaming of pizza and a certain freckled face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think? Sorry for teasing a bit, but doesn't waiting for them to figure it out make it better when it finally happens? ;)
> 
> Any requests for the next chapters? What were your favorite parts?


	8. Chapter 8 - Wandering Hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got on a roll today and have an update for you all! Don't get used to this two days in a row thing ;) Enjoy!

Wednesday flew by. It was one of the last true summery days with beautiful sunshine, but with 3 classes that day, Emily didn’t get a chance to enjoy it. She bolted down her breakfast in the morning, having forgotten to set her alarm when Kelley texted her the night before. She and Rose scrambled to get sandwiches from the to-go area of the dining hall in order to get started picking a topic for the group project they’d been assigned. Emily’s professors seemed to have taken the message to heart when they told their students the first syllabus day wasn’t the norm and the workload would get a lot more intense. Tobin and Emily groaned loudly as they walked back across campus after their afternoon Italian class.

“I can’t believe all the work Signor Romano assigned us! Doesn’t he know I only took this class to seduce pretty girls?!” Tobin grumbled.

“Oh my god I’m totally telling Christen!” Emily laughed heartily.

“Go ahead blondie, how do you think I got her to pay attention to me in the first place?” smirked Tobin. “Now she wants us to study abroad in Italy or something, so I have to keep taking the class to keep my lady happy! Of course, she’s like a master at the language and all I want to do is eat pasta, but what can you do?” The tan athlete shrugged and stopped dribbling her soccer ball.

“Haha Ok Casanova, well I’ll help you pass this class so you can keep that green eyed goddess of yours happy and go on a pasta eating, Italian adventure one day!” Emily smiled.

Tobin turned to the younger girl and smiled back, “That would be wicked cool of you! We’ll set up a study buddy system or something.” She punched Emily on the shoulder as she turned to leave, “I’ll see you at practice in like an hour! Laters!”

Despite the exhausting day and the insane amount of schoolwork, Emily was very much looking forward to practice. Nothing like a good sweat and some goal scoring to brighten the day. She gripped her backpack and pulled the straps up her back as she climbed the stairs to her room to get ready. When she got to their room, she saw a note written on their whiteboard.

Yo Triple G’s, meet in the lobby at 4:30 for your wheels to practice. – Leader of the Georgia Girl Gang. There was also a crudely drawn cartoon of the girls playing soccer.

Emily chuckled to herself at Kelley’s humor as she opened the door and got ready for practice.

………………………

The Triple G’s, Kelley had really gotten on a roll in the car at calling them that, jogged onto the field still belting out the Spice Girls. Ashlyn, Crystal, JJ, and Ali were sitting on the grass lacing up their cleats and Ash and Crystal joined in happily to the song fest, Ash with a mean air guitar and Crystal really hamming it up with her sick dance moves, while Ali and JJ giggled and pretended to fan girl as their audience. When they finished their song they heard clapping from behind them.  
“Quite the performance ladies! Looks like we may need to add karaoke to the activity list for the team bonding night on Friday.” Becky sat down and started to put on her boots.

“Team bonding night?” Emily looked at the captain quizzically.

“I was gonna announce it at the end of practice for the rookies, but every first Friday of the semester we do a team bonding night where we gather at the soccer house and play games, watch movies, eat snacks, you know, typical slumber party, get to know you kinda stuff. It’s a bit more low key than a normal soccer house party since it’s team members only. We usually all just wear like sweats or pajamas pants, anything comfy. It’s a good way to start off the season and develop some chemistry, plus it’s just plain fun!” Becky grinned as she described the event.

Ashlyn added in her two cents, “Yeah everyone can come over to our house at 6 on Friday and we’ll feed you. Just bring your favorite games or movies!”  
Kelley piped up from the huddle that had formed while Becky was talking, “It’s the bomb! Ali you’re gonna make that amazing kettle corn thing again right?! I dream about that deliciousness almost every night” Kelley sighed nostalgically.

Ali patted Kelley on the arm, “Don’t you worry, I already bought extra to make you your own batch. Wouldn’t want a brawl to break out like last time when Alex ate the last piece!” The older team members cracked up as they all scrambled and shouted over each other to interject their favorite moments from last semester’s event.

Emily looked on as all her team members gathered around as they arrived at the field. She felt so happy. When she left for college, she never imagined she could find a place or people that made her feel this comfortable so fast. She put her arm around Moe and squeezed hard. She looked at Emily a bit confused at the rush of affection, but she grinned back.

“Alright gang, start doing your stretches! It’s time to practice!” Becky bellowed to the group and they all snapped to attention.

………………………

It had been a physical practice with all the girls raring to get their classroom frustrations out on the field. Emily was on an opposite scrimmage team from both Morgan and Kelley and she wasn’t thrilled about it, but it gave her the opportunity to get to know some of the other members the team. She immediately warmed to their other keeper Alyssa who was like a ninja with her humor. She seemed silent and unassuming, but then she karate chopped you with a zinger and the whole team would be reeling. Emily loved that she had a place to meet such amazing women, even if she ended up covered in dirt and bruises in return. Emily rubbed at the raspberry on her knee from a particularly nasty tackle courtesy of a surprisingly feisty midfielder named Allie as she buckled her seatbelt.

“Yeah, you gotta watch out for Allie. She’ll run right at you like a tank and take you out if you’re not on your toes. You shouldn’t touch it though til you get some Neosporin on that sucker, you’re all dirty from the grass!” Kelley swatted Emily’s hand away from her leg. 

“Wouldn’t want you to get infected. Then we’d have to amputate and that might hamper you just a tad on the field, not to mention the dance floor! You’re gonna need all your moves for the bonding sesh on Friday.” Kelley chattered as she started up Reba.

“Even with one leg I could astonish you with my moves O’Hara. I’ll have you know I am quite the dancer.” Emily bragged and lifted her eyebrows flirtatiously.

Kelley gulped and stuttered, “Oh, really?”

Emily laughed, breaking the façade, “I mean if you call the stanky leg a dance move, then I’m your gal!” Kelley looked at her quickly and curiously before her eyes drifted back to the road as she drove.

“You’re just full of surprises aren’t you Sonnett?”

“Hmmmmm, maybe yes, maybe no! It’s a surprise!” She was pleased with her pun and could hear Morgan laughing at them quietly in the back of the car.

“Alright you two, save some of the surprises for Friday. Kelley can you find that station with the 90’s throwbacks?” Morgan asked.

“Right on it!”

Emily took the rare opportunity to study Kelley without her knowing it and mentally memorized where the freckles were on her right arm that was resting on the gear shift. Her muscles flexed as she tapped out the beat with her fingers. The breeze from the open window ruffled her bronze and golden locks and whipped pieces across her shoulder. Emily could see the laugh lines around her eyes from her ever present grin. Without thinking, Emily’s body took over and she took Kelley’s hand in hers and placed both of them back on the gear shift. Kelley looked over at Emily with a happy yet confused glance and Emily sheepishly grinned back. She didn’t know what had come over her, but her moment of feeling so complete at practice had shifted something inside her. She wanted to feel that way in every part of her life and her heart seemed to think taking Kelley’s hand in the car was the first step. Who was she to overthink it and second guess her own heart? They rode in 90’s radio bliss back to campus.

………………………

Dinner was the normal boisterous affair with teammates coming and going in the dining hall. Throughout the meal, Kelley was in the chair next to Emily and had her arm across the back of her chair. Every once in a while she would reach out and play with the baby hairs at the nape of Emily’s ponytail and it would send shivers down her spine. To their teammates this affection was pretty normal for Kelley, she was a very touchy feely gal with all her friends, but Emily knew they were starting to cross lines and enter into new uncharted territory. She smiled happily to herself when she heard a question from across the table.

“Hey Emily, cats or dogs? You’re the last one to vote!” Alex looked at her expectantly.

“Oh! That’s easy, dogs for sure. I love a good snuggle buddy. Plus cats can be so stand offish. Sometimes I wonder what we did to offend them in our past lives or whatever cause I swear all cats just look at humans so condescendingly” Emily rambled a bit as the table erupted in friendly laughs.

“Dogs are the winner then!” Christen crowed happily.

Tobin patted her girlfriend’s knee and looked at her with joy, “Babe with you dogs always win. Last time we went to the store you told that golden retriever we saw that he was too good for this world and that you loved him! I got a little jealous!” Tobin stuck out her bottom lip and pouted a bit.

“Oh stop it, you know he was the cutest. I can’t resist puppy eyes!” Christen sighed and pecked the tanned midfielder on her still pouty lips.

“And that’s how Tobin landed you! Look at those eyes! She’s just a puppy disguised as a human” joked Ashlyn as she playfully punched Tobin on the shoulder.  
Tobs continued to snuggle into Christen’s side and flipped Ashlyn the bird.

“Ash let the young lovebirds be happy. We all know you’re just jealous cause you’re the old, wrinkly married couple of the group” Kelley teased.

Ashlyn flicked her now congealed mashed potatoes at the still grinning Kelley and Emily shrieked as she got caught in the crossfire.

“Helllll no, I am not a part of this. If you’re food fighting I’m out of here.” 

Emily grabbed her plate and pushed her chair back. She forgot Kelley was attached to her chair though and the already laughing gal toppled sideways and caught herself by grabbing Emily’s bare thigh. They hadn’t changed from practice yet and Emily’s soccer shorts were pretty scrunched up from sitting, so it was safe to say her hand landed much further up than was appropriate in polite company. Emily’s face turned a deep red as her skin burned from the contact and Kelley grinned up at her mischievously before pulling herself into a seated position.

Emily mumbled her goodbyes and called to Moe to join her as she hastily left the table. Just when she thought she was making good progress with her feelings and getting things under control she had to get felt up by Kelley in the dining hall. Emily cursed at whatever romance god was causing this mayhem and walked outside to wait for Moe to catch up with her.

………………………

The roommate pair made it safely back to their room and mercifully Morgan did not press Emily to explain her broodiness. They got their reading and assignments done and Emily was feeling pretty proud of herself for actually staying on top of her work. She decided to reward herself with a scroll through Instagram when she saw she had some texts waiting for her. She forgot she had put her phone on silent for practice and never turned the sound back on.

Kelley: Soooo I heard a rumor at dinner that a certain someone loves a good snuggle buddy…

Kelley: Have I mentioned how snuggly Chester is? He’s been awfully lonely lately.

Kelley: Look at his little face? How can you resist?

To the third text Kelley had attached a pouty selfie with Chester.

Emily laughed and looked at the time stamp to see the messages had been sent over 2 hours ago. Emily hurried to respond.

Emily: Aw he does look a little lonely. I’ll have to take him to the park sometime to help him pick up the girl squirrels!

Emily saw the typing bubbles immediately appear.

Kelley: He says he’d like that very much!

Kelley’s text came through, but the typing bubbles continued to flash back and forth like Kelley was deciding whether or not to say something. Emily bit her lip nervously as she imagined what she could be thinking. Finally the message arrived.

Kelley: Was the snuggle buddy comment too much? It took you awhile to respond and I was worried I spooked you. You looked a little rattled when you left the dining hall.

Kelley’s concern warmed Emily’s heart. Emily thought quickly as she formulated her response.

Emily: It wasn’t too much, I just was super focused on my homework and didn’t see the text. I do love a good snuggle buddy. Not to brag, but I got a gold medal in snuggling back home.

Kelley: Oh fancy shmancy, Ms. Olympian!

Emily chuckled but then knit her brow as she decided whether to send her next thought. She channeled her courage she had found in the car and pushed send.

Emily: In the spirit of honesty, I was a little startled by your wandering hand at the end of dinner, but I think I could get used to it with time…

Emily started to pace a little after sending that one and Morgan looked up from her desk and stared.

“Cool your jets Emily, we already got a workout on the field today, no need to bring it back to the room!” She followed the still pacing girl with her eyes. “Dude what is up? Really?”

Emily stopped the pacing and showed Morgan the text messages. Morgan hollered with glee.

“EEEEEEKKKK it’s happening!!!! Where did all your bravery come from today?! Don’t think you got away with that hand holding in the car without me noticing.” The phone buzzed in Morgan’s hand as she spoke.

“Gimme it back I need to see what she said!!!!!” Emily grabbed at Moe’s hands as she tried to hold the phone out of Emily’s reach to read it before her. “Morgan we’re the same height that’s not gonna work!” Emily poked the skinny girl in the ribs and Moe dropped the phone.

“Ouch! Geez Em, keep your bony fingers away from me. I was gonna give it back eventually…” Morgan rubbed at her side.

“I’m sorry, but don’t get in between me and my phone and your ribs will be safe from now on” warned Emily. She sat on her bed to read Kelley’s response.

Kelley: Well I’ll give the message to my hands to wait for your signal before they wander again :P I meant it when I said I can wait. I value our friendship Em. I don’t want to ruin anything.

“What’d she say, what’d she say?!?” Morgan jumped onto the bed and read over Emily’s shoulder.

“Shhhhh let me think!” Emily shushed the over eager jumping bean beside her.

Emily: I value our friendship too Kelley. See you in class tomorrow?

Kelley: Wouldn’t miss it! Sweet dreams!

Emily: Sweet dreams to you too :D

“Oooooo you’re in it now girl. Can we pick out something really hot for you to wear tomorrow? Do you have anything that shows off how buff your arms are?!” Morgan ran over to Emily’s closet.

Emily shook her head and laughed. Her life was so different than she ever imagined it would be, but gosh dang it if it wasn’t so much better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, comment at me peeps. Any thoughts on bonding party activities that you'd want to see? Characters you need more of?


	9. Chapter 9 - What a Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright gang, so I have been on a writing kick this week and have another update for you! You are all spoiled with my frequent chapters haha. Hope you're enjoying the weekend!

“Wakey wakey roomie! It’s time for breakfast! Most important meal of the day!” Morgan chirped at Emily as she got ready.

Emily sighed and stretched lazily, “Moe, as much as I love you, I am never going to be a morning person and I’m never going to enjoy you waking me up, no matter how cheerful you are. Just thought you should know that upfront.”

Morgan was looking down at her phone and didn’t seem to hear Emily. “Em, what’s your favorite coffee order?”

“Um I don’t know, I like an iced caramel macchiato or a mocha, sometimes just straight up espresso, depends on my mood, caffeine needs, or how hot it is outside.  
Why?” Emily groaned and slowly shuffled around their room, grabbing the arm baring outfit Morgan had picked out for her the night before.

“Oh, um there’s this Buzzfeed quiz about coffee that tells you your personality from your coffee order.” Morgan squirmed a little on her bed.

Emily reached out her hand for Morgan’s phone as she pulled on her tank, “Sounds neat, let me take it!”

The oddly skittish girl, snatched her phone out of Emily’s reach, “NO! Um I mean I saw the quiz the other day, I don’t have it on my phone right now…”

Emily eyed Morgan warily “Ok… You’re acting really strange. Did you eat some of that weird looking grey mush from the dining hall last night? I told you that would mess you up.”

Morgan laughed nervously, “HAHAHAHA you’re so funny. I’m fine, just get ready faster so we can go!”

“Whatever weirdo.” Emily huffed under her breath. “Lemme just brush my teeth and we’ll go.”

………………………

Emily walked into her Psych lecture after breakfast with a still slightly jittery Moe and saw Kelley had beaten her to class. The bubbly brunette waved happily as Emily walked up the steps to meet her.

“I saved you a seat!” Kelley grinned widely.

Emily looked down at her desk and saw an iced coffee, condensation dripping down the cup. Kelley kept grinning at her, waiting for a reaction.

“Kel, can you move your coffee so I can put down my stuff?” Emily looked down expectantly.

Kelley’s face fell a little. “Uh, why don’t you look at the coffee first?”

Emily exhaled noisily. “Why is everyone in my life acting so weird this morning?

She picked up the coffee cup and turned it around. When she saw the name on it she looked back up at Kelley who’s wide grin had returned.

“Snuggle Olympic Champion?” Emily tried to suppress the laughter that was bubbling in her chest.

“I thought you deserved a treat for your major accomplishment!” Kelley joked as her eyes sparkled.

“How did you even get them to write this?” Emily looked at her with astonishment.

“I have my ways…” Kelley winked, leaned on her elbow and cocked her head, indicating Emily should sit down.

Emily laughed, “Ok you woman of mystery. Well thank you for my treat.” Emily took a sip and was surprised to find it was an iced caramel macchiato. “How did you know my coffee order?” Emily looked over at the still smirking girl with a surprised expression.

Kelley laughed, “You can thank your little roomie for that! She told me she almost blew it like 5 different times, but she managed to hold it together this morning and for that I’m grateful.”

Emily mentally made a note to give Morgan a hug later and to apologize for calling her a weirdo. Her heart was so full at the idea of Kelley waking up and thinking about her long enough to come up with this elaborate plan just to get her favorite coffee beverage for her. She put her arm around the slightly smaller girl and squeezed.

“Thanks Kel, that was really sweet of you.”

Kelley turned to look at Emily, “Yeah? I’m glad you liked it. Just wanted to make you smile this morning!” Her expression was still so eager, so pleased to have made Emily happy for just a minute.

Emily didn’t know what she had done to deserve this much happiness, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She smiled widely. “Well mission accomplished!” 

The girls heard their Professor call for the attention of the class and Emily removed her arm from Kelley’s back, lingering a little longer than necessary, taking note of just how soft Kelley’s skin was at the bottom of her neck. The two shared one more glance and giggled at each other before pulling out their class materials and getting ready to take notes.

………………………

“We still on for lunch today?” Kelley looked at Emily enthusiastically while putting away her laptop. The lecture had been just as much fun as Tuesday. Every time Emily took a sip of her sweet drink throughout the class she felt a jolt of happiness. She had enjoyed the opportunity to absorb Kelley’s intelligent responses and Kelley was showing off just a little since she knew Emily was watching.

“Yeah that sounds great! Can we go to the med school cafeteria? Rose said they have a courtyard so we can eat outside in the sun!” Emily wanted to soak up as much of the warmth of summer while she still could, plus she couldn’t pass up a chance to show of her tank top attire. Morgan would be perturbed if her fashion expertise went to waste.

“Sure that sounds perfect.” Kelley grabbed her backpack, as did Emily and they quickly made their way to the cafeteria. They picked out their meals of choice and found a suitable sun soaked spot in the courtyard, summer wildflowers decoratively displayed around them and a lovely breeze which swished through the trees. Kelley struck up the conversation again once they took their seats.

“So Ms. Sonnett, tell me more about your life before college! I still don’t really know that much about you.” Kelley munched on her carrots and looked at Emily expectantly. 

Emily launched into her spiel about growing up with a twin and told funny stories about trying to trick people growing up. The whole time Kelley looked at her with admiration and joy, laughing and clapping at the funny moments. Emily would have felt embarrassed by the attention if it didn’t feel so genuine and comfortable. Kelley wanted to know her story and so she told her!

“… and then Emma fell into the kiddie pool and cracked open her knee! I couldn’t stop laughing, but boy did I get in trouble for that one. I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere but school and soccer practice for weeks!” Emily gestured wildly as she told the climax of her tale.

Kelley stared at the blonde girl who was flushed with excitement over her childhood memories and laughed happily. “Oh my gosh you were a little devil! How did you grow up into such a nice, polite southern belle?”

Emily smiled mischievously, “Who said I’m not still a little bit of a devil?” her eyes sparkled as she watched Kelley swallow thickly at her diabolical tone.

She was pleased with herself for getting the upper hand on Kelley for once and decided to run with it. She traced indecipherable patterns on Kelley’s hand which was flat against the table. Emily could hear Kelly’s swift intake of breath at the contact. Kelley stared hard into Emily’s eyes and they darkened a bit, which made Emily gulp. The air was thick with tension when all of sudden Kelley’s phone started beeping loudly. Both girls shrieked and jumped in their chairs, startled out of the moment.

“Crap, I’m sorry. That’s the alarm I set to remind me to go to lab. My PI throws a fit if I’m late and well I’m not so great with being on time without a little help from my phone.” Kelley looked up apologetically while she shut off the alarm and moved to throw away her trash and Emily’s trash.

Emily blinked herself out of the fog from their spoiled moment and followed Kelley’s movements to the garbage can, “Oh that’s cool, I need to get to my new science class with Moe anyway. I should probably be there early since I didn’t get to go to the first day. I just feel bad that I spent our whole lunch talking about me!” Emily self-consciously crossed her arms in front of her.

Kelley walked back over to the table and lightly put her hand on Emily’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Trust me, I wouldn’t have let you monopolize the conversation if I didn’t want you to. Have you met me? I love talking about myself!” Kelley chuckled, “I wanted to hear more about you. Sometimes I worry about being too domineering when I’m around you. You can be so quiet! I like listening to you and I’m happy you shared a bit of your childhood with me.” Kelley smiled.  
Emily didn’t really know what to say to that, but she didn’t want to play into this quiet stereotype she had been categorized into, “I mean yeah we all know you love talking about yourself” she answered in a teasing tone, “but still next time I want to hear about your childhood!”

“You can count on it! Ok, now I really have to get going. Shoot me a text if you wanna hang sometime tonight, otherwise I’ll see you at the team bonding night tomorrow!” Kelley wrapped Emily in a quick hug before she grabbed her backpack and walked out of the courtyard. Emily stared at her muscular legs and ass as she walked. She then realized what she was doing and started to blush. Sonnett, when did you start becoming the kind of girl who checks out a chick’s ass when she walks away! Maybe you really are a bit of a devil? She chuckled to herself and collected her belongings and set off to class.

………………………

Morgan, Emily, Rose, and another freshman teammate Moe had introduced to her in food science, Lindsey were all hunkered down in the library for the first time in their college careers. They had all grabbed an early, light dinner after class and rushed to grab a good table and get some of their work out of the way before the weekend. The 4 women very excited for the party tomorrow and being newbies to college life didn’t realize that no one in their right mind actually gets ahead on their schoolwork to enjoy the weekend! They would learn soon enough that Sundays were meant for panicked cramming and catching up with work, but for now they bumbled along in the library occasionally looking up from their books or screens to whisper a comment or question to one another. Rose could be counted on to snicker whenever she got bored and started looking at cute bulldog videos and Lindsey was good for sporadically sending online shopping links. Emily appreciated the company though, despite the inconsistent work ethic.

Emily had her tongue stuck out the side of her mouth as she tried to concentrate on the difficult Italian passage she needed to decipher for her reading response. She could hear the patter of rain on the window and she sighed thinking about having to walk back to the dorm in the end of summer storm. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket and she bit her tongue when she got startled by the vibration. 

“Ouch!” Emily shrieked a bit too loudly for the library and she got shushed by the hawkish librarian. 

She whispered back “Sorry!” as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. The screen lit her face in the darkened library from the stormy weather.

Kelley: Hey, wanna come up and watch a movie? Nothing like rain and a good film to round out your day!

Emily shivered at the idea of snuggling in the rain, watching a movie with Kelley. It sounded so domestic and appealing and she couldn’t wait til it happened one day, but today was not that day.

Emily: I’m in the library :( I have a bunch more reading to get done for the night before I have to brave the walk home in the rain. Guess I should have packed my umbrella today.

Kelley: :( Ok. Raincheck? LOL.

Emily laughed quietly as she imagined Kelley’s glee at her pun.

Emily: Absolutely! Wish me luck that I make it back home later without getting soaked to the bone!

Emily turned off the sound on her phone to avoid any more upsetting outbursts on her part and pocketed it, returning to her reading.

About an hour later Emily was basically finished with her work and whispered to her friends that she was gonna head out. Morgan glanced up and flashed a thumbs up, Rose waved goodbye, and Lindsey stuck out her hand for a high five and Emily reciprocated.

Emily walked out of the library ready to make a run for it when she saw a flash of movement to her right. She looked over and there was Kelley, sitting on a bench under the entryway overhang, two umbrellas by her side. Kelley had her eyes closed and was air drumming wildly to a song. Emily smiled to herself and snuck up behind the energetic young woman. She clapped her hands down quickly on Kelley’s shoulders while shouting,

“BOO!!!”

Kelley jumped about 2 feet in the air and Emily cackled with glee. The shorter brunette turned around and face Emily with a scowl on her face.

“Is that any way to treat your knight in shining armor who waited outside the library to bring you an umbrella and walk you home?”

Emily stopped laughing. “Oh! I just thought, you know you like scaring me and it was the perfect opportunity and…” Emily stammered as Kelley’s scowl started to waver and then she burst into laughter.

“If you could see your face!! Em, I didn’t mean it, I just couldn’t resist trying to get you back. Don’t worry, it was a great prank.” She playfully shoved the confused girl. “Come on, lets get you home.” 

She handed Emily the extra umbrella and held out her hand. Emily grinned and they started their walk home in the storm, umbrellas shielding them from the rain.  
By the time they got back to the dorm Kelley had kept her promise and told her a bit about her childhood. She explained the joys and perils of being the middle child, the idyllic home life she had in her gated community growing up, street games of kickball and soccer and riding bikes in cul de sacs and the works, and her dreams as a child of playing professional soccer.

“Then when I didn’t make the ODP team in high school I just realized that it was ok to continue to love soccer, but finding a passion for other things was probably my right path. I realized I loved the environment, and loved protecting animals, and science had always been my jam and I decided I wanted to be an environmental engineer!”

Kelley’s thumb had been absentmindedly stroking Emily’s hand as they continued to hold hands and Emily found herself distracted as she listened to Kelley’s story. At the same time she was enthralled learning about the effervescent and precocious child that Kelley had been. Emily smiled warmly at the excited girl as they had arrived to their dorm. They closed their umbrellas and Emily swiped her key card to let them in.

“After you, m’lady!” Kelley gallantly held the door open for Emily.

“Why thank you kind gentlewoman!” Emily went along with the charade.

“Shall I walk the kind lady to her door?” Kelley continued to play their game, cheekily smiling.

“Oh I must insist! One could get lost in these dark halls!” Emily giggled.

They walked up the stairs and when they reached Emily’s door the pair faced each other, slightly out of breath and damp from their journey. The air was buzzing and Emily could tell Kelley was fighting an urge to make a move because her hands were gripped tightly in her pockets. She had promised to keep her hands to herself until Emily gave the signal and Kelley O’Hara was a woman of her word. Kelley cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrows in a questioning look. Emily reached to wipe a rain droplet from Kelley’s forehead and let her hand linger on her cheek. In an instant she made up her mind and leaned in and placed a soft, chaste kiss on Kelley’s other cheek. Emily blushed deeply. She knew she could have done more, but this was what she was ready for.

“Thank you for rescuing me at the library! You really are my knight in shining armor. Under armour that is!” Emily smiled at her joke and let her hand fall from Kelley’s face.

“It was my pleasure.” Kelley’s hand glanced by hers as Emily’s fell. She locked eyes with her as she involuntarily brushed her hand against her just kissed cheek.

“Goodnight Emily.”

Emily smiled at the glowing girl in front of her, “Goodnight Kelley, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With that she opened her door and stepped inside her room. She turned around to see Kelley still standing a bit shocked in the hallway and Emily smiled to herself as she closed the door. Her heart beat excitedly in her chest as she got ready for bed. She couldn’t wait until Morgan got home, she had so much to tell her! Emily snuggled happily, warm and dry in her bed. What a day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cute? Too cheesy? Too slow? Just right? Gimme those thoughts. Next chapter will be team bonding time, yay!
> 
> Also I feel like this goes without saying, but I'm not really editing these chapters. If you see a grammar or spelling mistake, sorry! I tend to just read them and edit in my head and don't even see the mistakes lol. Forgive me!


	10. Chapter 10 - Team Bonding Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was supposed to be the whole team bonding event, but it was getting kinda long and I just wanted to post it for you, so I split it a bit. Here's the first bit! Not gonna lie, Harry Potter Weekend playing on freeform definitely influenced this chapter a bit lol. Hope you like it and hope you had a good Sunday!

When Morgan had gotten home last night, the two had gossiped late into the wee hours. As expected Morgan was ecstatic with all the progress made and was so proud of Emily for making a move at all. She was convinced that Emily had somehow secretly been cast in an 80’s style rom com and a John Hughes wannabe was going to pop out of the woodwork at any moment because nobody’s life was actually this adorable and wonderful. Emily was about 10% scared Moe’s theory was actually true, but she would never admit it. The two realized that Emily needed to think of something nice to do for Kelley to repay her, but they couldn’t settle on an idea and finally they put a pin in it because Moe had to be up in 6 hours for her 8:30 class (Emily would never understand why any sane person would do that to themselves.)

Despite the late night of chatter and lack of sleep, Friday went by in a flash. Emily was on cloud 9 from her morning text from Kelley. All it had said was “Good morning sunshine! Happy Friday!”, but it made her smile nonetheless. She was so fully of giddy anticipation for the team bonding night that she was squirming in her seat in all her classes. Even Rose had noticed in their freshman seminar how antsy the blonde was and had tried to tape a “Caution, has ants in her pants” sign to her back, but Emily was too slick for her. Emily did have to hand it to the pale girl though, it was a good idea. She’d have to remember that one for the next time Morgan got a little agitated. She just couldn’t stop her jitters of excitement!

When Emily and Tobin finished Italian and Emily was finally done with classes she whooped with glee! The two were walking home and Tobin looked at her suspiciously,

“What’s gotten into you? I mean I know it’s Friday and all, but you’re exceptionally excited to be done with class today.”

Emily thought carefully before she answered Tobin. She could use another person who knows Kelley well to help her out and Tobin certainly didn’t seem like a gossipy type, plus she could say she was adding another person to the Secret Squirrel Squad… Emily stopped walking and turned to face Tobin and look her in the eye. She got a serious look on her face.

“Ok Tobin, I’m going to tell you something important to me, something really serious, and I need you to promise not to tell anyone, not even Christen, unless I say it’s ok. Can you do that?”

Tobin’s expression was beyond confused, “Whoa dude. Hold up. Are you like gonna hurt yourself or something? Cause I would definitely tell someone if that’s the case. Otherwise, lay it on me. I’m good for a secret.”

“God no, I’m not suicidal or anything! It’s just I have a crush on someone, and it’s someone we know, and it’s all really new to me.” Emily got flustered with Tobin’s extreme reaction.

“Oh you mean you and Kelley?” Tobin replied evenly.

Emily started coughing as she choked on air from her surprise inhalation at Tobin’s words. Tobin whacked her on the back and she caught her breath and looked up at the tan, smiling woman.

“How did you know already?!” Emily asked with an aghast expression.

Tobin shrugged, “It was pretty obvious to me. Kelley never stops talking about you, you are always blushing like crazy around her, and you said it was someone we knew. It’s not all soccer up in here you know. I notice things too!” Tobin tapped her head knowingly and smirked.

Emily mumbled under her breath, “Well if I’d known we were that obvious I guess I wouldn’t have been so freaked out about telling people…” 

Emily kept thinking and got a little annoyed. “Also if I’m so obvious why didn’t anyone just tell me in high school that I probably liked girls! People should help you figure these things out!!! I mean thinking back on it now that’s probably why I was obsessed with my 6th grade teacher and OH MY GOD that is totally why I wanted to watch the Disney channel original movie Motocrossed like every day… Jesus Tobin how did I not see this coming?!” Emily’s started to get a bit manic in her gay epiphany.

Tobin started laughing, “Ok first of all hold up there, you’re acting like you’re cuckoo for cocoa puffs! Here lets pop a squat on the grass for a second ok?”  
Emily nodded as she started to calm down and the two sat down on the lawn. Tobin tuned back to the slightly anxious blonde. 

“I’m sorry, I was just joshing you about having noticed you and Kelley. I am soooo clueless and had no idea, but Kelley called me last night and told me about you kissing her on the cheek and wanted to know what to do. She wanted my advice because when Chris and I got together it was her first crush on a girl too and she wanted guidance on how to not scare you off.” 

Tobin put her hand on Emily’s shoulder. 

“It’s ok to be freaked out about telling people and it’s totally normal to be second guessing all your actions from the past and interpreting them differently. Hell it’s ok if you don’t have a label for yourself and all you know is Kelley makes you feel things you haven’t felt before. We’ve all been through it, trust me. All that matters is that whatever choices you make each day make you happy, ok? What did you want to ask me before I messed you up?” Tobin nodded at her encouragingly.  
Emily looked up a little embarrassed, “Well I guess I was just gonna tell you that I like her and she’s been so sweet to me lately and I don’t know what to do to repay her. I figured you know her well and I wanted your input.”

Tobs laughed happily, “That’s not a big problem at all! Kelley’s pretty easy to please. Why don’t you just make her something like a friendship bracelet tonight at the party? Honestly, she’ll love it, she’s a little kid at heart and that kinda stuff makes her really happy. One time I gave her a piece of pottery I made in my ceramics elective and you would have thought I hung the moon for her. It was a piece of crap too, but she loved it!”

Emily exhaled, she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding her breath, “That’s such a good idea! Thank you Tobin! I mean it. I know it’s not a big deal for you, but even getting me to talk about Kelley out loud is pretty massive for me, so thank you.” She glanced at the older girl gratefully.

“Hey no problem kid. Like I said, we’ve all been there! You just let me know when you want to get your official gay card and having the swearing in ceremony, k?” Tobin peeked at Emily with a teasing glint in her eye.

“Oh my god you are such a dork, I know that’s not a thing!” Emily shoved Tobin playfully. The two finished their walk in comfortable chatter. Emily felt such relief at letting another person in on her secret feelings and her heart swelled with gratitude for all the great people she’d met at college. Soon Tobs dropped her off at her dorm, shouting her see ya laters and Emily got back to her room to get ready for the night ahead!

………………………

“Do you think everyone really wears pajamas?” Emily asked Moe with concern in her voice.

“Well I think people probs don’t get dolled up since they’re not trying to impress anyone usually… but I don’t think it could hurt for you to do the comfy chic look!” Morgan smiled at her nervous roomie.

The pair went through her closet and settled on a pair of black leggings, a white Adidas sporty tank that was cut low and showed up her sports bra underneath, and her trusty Birks.

“There! You look cute, but not like you’re trying too hard and no one could accuse you of not being comfortable!” Morgan had an incredibly pleased expression on her face as she took in Emily’s ensemble. “Lets go get our team bonding on!”

………………………

The girls had decided to walk to the soccer house. They didn’t want to ask anyone to drive them in case there was alcohol there. No one wants to be the rookies who cramp someone’s style by turning them into the designated driver just for a 5 minute car ride! Morgan knocked on the door and flashed Emily an excited grin. The door swung open and they were greeted by an exuberant Ashlyn wearing a “Kiss the cook” apron and brandishing a spatula.

“Yo homies! You arrived just in time for the first batch of my famous burgers fresh off the grill! Grab a plate and a brewski if you’re so inclined and pop a squat in the living room!” The tall keeper ushered them into the kitchen where Ali was setting out all the fixings for dinner. Ashlyn pinched Ali on the butt as she walked by and the brunette yelped and playfully swatted at tattooed keeper. Ashlyn pouted and looked back at her girlfriend.

“Don’t you see my apron? Where’s my payment for cooking up this glorious feast?”

Ali giggled, “Hun you are such a goofball.” Nevertheless she kissed her favorite person in thanks and Ash went happily back out to the backyard to man the grill and Ali turned her attention to the freshmen.

“Hi girls! So glad you’re here! What do you like on your burgers? Do you want drinks?” Ali, ever the perfect hostess, hovered over the new teammates trying to anticipate their needs.

The girls chatted with Ali while they filled their plates. The smorgasbord of food assembled was pretty impressive and the two made sure to grab some of the infamous fight inspiring kettle corn. Emily whispered nervously to Moe when Kriegs got distracted by more teammates arriving, “Psssst Morgan are you gonna drink?”

“I was going to, I’m not gonna like get smashed or anything, but a few should be fine! You don’t have to though, whatever you want to do.”

Emily nodded. “Ok, I guess I’ll have one and see how I feel.” 

The freshmen each grabbed a beer from the cooler and headed into the living room where many of their teammates were already gathered. She looked around trying not to seem too obvious and searched to see if Kelley was already there, but she was late as usual. Emily was surprised to see there were still girls she hadn’t really met yet. She and Morgan perched on the couch next to Alex and a tattooed girl who introduced herself as Syd. Turned out Syd was a riot. She told stories of her bratty Chihuahua who she had named Boss and her expressions were so vivid that Emily almost spat food out from laughter at least 4 times during their exchange. Out of the corner of her eye Emily saw Kelley slip in to the gathering and sit down next to Christen. Kelley spotted her and waved and Emily blushed at being caught looking for her, but she waved back. Just as Emily was going to get up and move to sit with KO and Christen, Becky stood up and called for everyone’s attention.

“Ladies! Welcome to this year’s team bonding fall season kickoff! I’m so happy to see you all. So this is pretty much a free for all. We’re gonna have a movie playing, there’s a table with all sorts of crafts like lanyards, coloring books, friendship bracelets, and also some nail polish and such, you know the drill. There’s some board games and tons of food. You’re welcome to drink, just stay safe. No one is obligated to do anything they don’t want to, I want to be clear about this. I know some of the other teams on this campus have some crazy hazing issues, but this is a family and there will be none of that here. I encourage you rookies to try to talk to someone you haven’t spoken to yet tonight, but that’s it! Just have a good time.” A shout from the back of the room interrupted the responsible blonde.

“Alright Mom, we get it! We won’t pressure the babies!” The room of teammates snickered and Emily turned to see a snarky Allie in the back of the room grinning cheekily.

Becky laughed, “Ok, Ok I’m done momming you all. I do get to do one more thing though. Captain’s privilege. I get to pick the first movie! I’m gonna go with a classic for this team. Ash can you put in Harry Potter? The first one?”

Kelley called out happily, “YES SCORE!” and everyone burst into laughter again. Ashlyn put the DVD in and the gals got back to chatting and eating while the John William’s music played in the background. Emily moved to throw away her empty plate and decided to take Becky’s advice and talk to someone new. She sat down at the craft table next to one of the older midfielders who she hadn’t met yet. She was in the middle of painting her nails a nice bright purple color.

“Hey, I’m Emily, sorry we haven’t had a chance to really meet at practice yet! That’s a cool color you’re using.” Emily looked through the rest of the string trying to figure out what colors Kelley would want.

“Sup, I’m Heather, but everyone calls me HAO. Yeah, I was gonna do a more typical like pink or something, but with the football team playing and some of the team boyfriends probably getting the start, I was like gotta show that school pride!” She waggled her eyebrows goofily.

Emily laughed, “I mean covering your hands in purple sounds like a good start to me!” 

She settled on a variety of greens to make a sort of ombre style bracelet. It reminded her the color of grass and she felt like soccer was their happy place, so hopefully it was a good choice. Emily and Heather chatted comfortably while Emily made the bracelet and she was surprised to find herself really enjoying herself. In high school she hadn’t always loved meeting new people, preferring the company of her twin and the girls she’d grown up with in her hometown, but she felt herself coming out of her shell with these women. There wasn’t a person on this team who didn’t have something unique about them, HAO was training for an Ironman competition, and they were also just so welcoming. JJ and Crystal had joined them at the craft table and were coloring absentmindedly and gossiping about their boyfriends. 

Emily finished her bracelet quickly and looked over her handiwork. Not too bad Sonnett, those summers as a camp counselor definitely paid off! She gave herself a mental pat on the back and excused herself from the table then looked around the room to find Kelley. She saw her munching on kettle corn, typical, and engrossed in the movie on the couch. Syd was on the other end of the couch inattentively braiding Alex’s hair. Alex was sitting on the floor painting her toenails. Emily walked over and plopped next to Kelley on the couch. She grabbed a handful of Kelley’s kettle corn and was swiftly met with an angry glare that somewhat softened when she realized it was Emily stealing her treat.

“Hey! This is my batch that Ali made especially for me!” Kelley grumbled.

“Whoa ok, noted that Kelley doesn’t share food.” Emily snickered.

Alex piped up from her floor spot, “You’re lucky you even have a hand left!” 

Kelley took her sock off her foot and threw it at the sassy brunette. It landed directly on Alex’s head and she shrieked. Kelley cackled with glee. Alex threw the sock back at the still chucking girl and scowled at her.

“You’re lucky everyone else is here and I would get in trouble for starting a fight with you, but you watch your back O’Hara. My tickling hands are coming for you. You won’t know when, you won’t know where, but they’re coming.” Alex stared hard at Kelley who just smirked back, pleased with having gotten on Alex’s nerves. Trying to diffuse the tension a bit before she gave Kelley her bracelet, Emily asked the girls a question.

“So what houses would y’all be in if you were at Hogwarts?”

“Gryffindor. No question.” Kelley didn’t even look up from the movie that was how certain she was in her answer.

“Ummm I haven’t really thought about it.” Answered Syd. “Honestly I didn’t ever get into the books or anything.”

“Yeah I haven’t seen Syd read anything outside of class ever, so that doesn’t surprise me.” Alex teased.

Syd shrugged, “I mean you’re not wrong.”

“I think I’d want to say Gryffindor, but I’m probably a Hufflepuff. Maybe I’m like a Neville style Gryffindor. Like I can be brave when it counts, but I’m not reckless.” Alex responded.

Emily nodded understandingly. She could identify with the girl for thinking hard about the answer to the question. Harry Potter was serious business!

“What about you Em? What house would you be?” Kelley finally turned her attention away from the film to question her.

“You’re not gonna like my answer Kelley.” Emily warned her.

“Nooooo, don’t tell me. You self-identify as a Slytherin?!? What’s wrong with you????” Kelley’s voice got loud as her expression moved back and forth from disgust to confusion.

Emily shrugged, “I mean there’s nothing wrong with being ambitious, resourceful, and cunning. I value self-preservation and I weigh my options before acting. If that makes me a Slytherin, I’m ok with it.”

Syd reached out to high five the young blonde, “Damn girl, I like those qualities too. Sign me up for Slytherin!”

Kelley looked at the two with crazy eyes, “Do you not care at all about being evil?!?”

Emily laughed at the overreacting girl, “Kelley I promise you not all Slytherins are evil, take Snape for instance, and I promise I’m not evil. Would an evil girl go to the trouble of making you this friendship bracelet?” Emily held out the bracelet as a peace offering. Kelley’s eyes lit up.

“For me?! Ooooo so pretty! Green is my favorite color! Put it on me please!” 

Kelley held out her wrist. Emily gently tied the bracelet around and grazed her soft wrist as she finished it with a bow. She couldn’t resist one last Harry Potter jab though.

“Kelley you know green is a Slytherin color right? You just said it was your favorite…” Emily’s eyes glinted mischievously.

“Oh stop it Em, I like this bracelet and I’m not letting you ruin it.” Kelley pulled her into a hug and Emily got a whiff of her shampoo, something like honeysuckle and oranges. Emily whispered into her ear so Alex and Syd couldn’t hear.

“I just wanted to do something nice for you since you seem to always be doing things to make me happy.”

Kelley pulled back from the hug, but still kept one arm around her, and smiled big at Emily. “I love it and it definitely makes me happy.”

The group continued to watch the movie, occasionally commenting or making jokes and the party went on around them. Allie joined them on the couch, causing Emily to scoot closer to Kelley whose arm had never left it’s place around her. Emily didn’t think Kelley realized she was drawing circles on her shoulder because of what Tobin had told her about being scared of freaking her out. Either way it was doing things to Emily. She shivered a little bit as the continued to cuddle. She placed her palm up on top of Kelley’s thigh, offering it for Kelley to hold her hand. Kelley looked at Emily with a question in her gaze and Emily nodded slightly as Kelley took her hand and officially snuggled in closer. She whispered into Emily’s ear,

“Guess we get to test out your gold medal, snuggle buddy.” Emily felt the warmth from Kelley’s breath on her neck and she shuddered a bit.

Emily stammered back softly, “I guess we do!” The grins on their faces could’ve been seen from miles away though.

………………………

A few hours later the party was winding down. They had moved on to HP number 2 and only one fight had broken out over some accused cheating at Monopoly Deal (Tobin and Alex were not to be trusted to play board games together.) All the girls had gorged on the monstrous ice cream sundae bar Ali had put together and were lounging and conversing amiably when Becky got back up to address the team.

“Ok gals! So the official bonding night is over and you are all free to go as you please. I hope you had a good time and got to know some of your teammates better. It’ll help us out on the field the closer we are,” Becky smiled and continued her speech, “I know Ali and Ash were planning to get out some harder alcohol and set up the beer pong table, so definitely stay and get a little more rowdy if you want. Happy weekend! I’ll see you all at practice on Sunday. Can we do a team on 3?”  
The team all got up from their perches and gathered around Becky for their chant.

“1, 2, 3, TEAM!”

Everyone started to disperse after their cheer. Sydney, JJ, Crystal all left to go find their boyfriends at whatever party they had found talking about getting their dance on major on a Friday night. Emily also overheard Allie telling Ash,

“Hell no, I’m not going to find Bati, I’d much rather hang with you pooks! Bati knows my girls come first.” And Emily chuckled at her self-assured nature. Morgan came up behind Emily and tapped her on the shoulder.

“You cool with staying here? I’m kinda into the idea of my first college party, but if you don’t want to we can go home!” 

Morgan was so considerate to see how she felt thought Emily. She looked around the room and found Kelley’s piercing gaze.

“Yeah, I definitely want to stay….” Emily didn’t know where the night was going from there, but she was tingling with excitement to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? Where my HP fans at? Favorite moments?
> 
> So real talk. I'm having shoulder surgery on Friday. I am trying to pre-write some chapters for you all during my recovery because I have no idea what my typing ability will be like, but I keep getting too excited about them and posting them for you to read whenever I finish. So just giving you a heads up that after this week it could potentially be a lonnggg time before I update. I'm still gonna try to get ahead on the chapters, but no promises.


	11. Chapter 11 - Never Have I Ever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Partay time! Let me know what you think :D Shout out to my college self for remembering what it was like to have a thriving social life and go to ragers haha. Adulthood is so boring.

Needless to say things got wild once Broon came out to play instead of Becky. Emily wasn’t sure she could ever look at her Captain the same way again after watching her down a shot of fireball then sink her ball backwards in beer pong. Tobin was not wrong. These gals knew how to party! The music was pounding in the soccer house and Emily could feel the thumping bass in her bones. Alex and Allie kept trying to get Tobin to dance and the lanky girl would laugh it off, but Emily saw her jaw drop once Christen got up to show her moves and she knew it would only be one more drink before Tobin gave in. Kelley and HAO were beasting at beer pong and seemed to have some sort of chest bump victory celebration along with a shout about being “Irish Soul Sisters!”

Ash and Ali had disappeared for about 20 minutes and when they came back Ali’s shirt was inside out and Ashlyn’s usually carefully styled hair was tousled in every direction. Lindsey, Rose, and Morgan had opted for some secret recipe punch type beverage that Ali swore tasted like candy and Emily could tell her roomie and the other freshmen were going to have a rough morning tomorrow. She couldn’t even imagine what the soccer house ragers were like when they opened up the house to more than just the girls who were there from the team.

After an hour or so of hanging on the couch with Tobin and Alyssa and shooing the dancers away from them and 2 rum and cokes later Emily felt a bit dizzy. Emily had never been one for alcohol in high school, it just didn’t appeal to her, and 2 stiffly poured drinks, Ash was a heavy handed bartender, plus her beers earlier were definitely affecting her. She hated the idea of being a lightweight, but she couldn’t deny the fact that she had like zero percent body fat and no built up tolerance. Emily went outside to get some fresh air, overwhelmed and not wanting to be that infamous rookie who ends up throwing up. The crisp night breeze felt incredibly refreshing and she felt steadier on her feet already. Emily stayed out on the porch, staring up at the stars which twinkled back at her when she heard the screen door creak behind her and she felt a hand on the small of her back.

“Wondered where you had run off to. I missed you.” Kelley’s voice was a bit raspy from the combination of shouting during beer pong and the late night hour. Her hand radiated heat on Emily’s back where her tank didn’t quite meet her leggings. She snuggled into Emily and her warm breath made the hairs on Emily’s neck stand up. Kelley’s hand started to trace it’s way up Emily’s spine and Emily felt her dizziness returning.

“Kel, wait.” Emily choked out the two words and stepped away from her freckled tempter and turned to face her. Kelley’s gaze was a bit unfocused from the alcohol, but her distress was evident after Emily pulled away. Emily took a deep breath and held out her hand for Kelley to take it, reassuring her that everything was ok. Kelley’s face was even more chiseled than usual, thrown into shadow by the moonlight and Emily felt herself wanting to trace her strong jawline, but she pushed down those desires and focused on her safer thoughts that weren’t fueled by alcohol and started speaking.

“Kelley, I need you to keep your wandering hands promise tonight. I’m just not there yet. I don’t want my body to take over instead of my brain and I definitely don’t want you to be drunk when we have our first kiss. I know you talked to Tobin about us, and I’m pretty certain we’re both on the same page, so I’m just gonna lay the cards on the table here. I like you. I’ve never been affected by another person like this. You make me feel so sure and so confused all at the same time. Jesus Kel, I plan on kissing you. I plan on kissing you in the near future and hopefully doing it a lot, but I want us both to remember it. I want us to be real, not some drunken experiment. And when you run your hand up my back I’m not sure I can stop myself. You’ve had enough bad experiences in the past and I’ve had none at all, so we need to be careful, ok? Can you do that for me?”

Emily couldn’t meet Kelley’s gaze after her declaration. She had laid herself bare and that wasn’t like her. She was a freaking Slytherin, self-preservation remember?!  
Emily’s heart was pounding so hard she thought she could see it moving underneath her shirt and she felt like she might pass out from nerves. The blood was whooshing in her ears and her hands were shaking, but she felt Kelley grip her one hand a little harder and reach to pull her chin up so she could look at her eye to eye.

“Hey, Em, look at me please?” Kelley spoke in an uncharacteristically soft and gentle voice. Her general swagger and confidence had melted away. 

“I can do anything you ask me to do. I’m in this. I don’t know how or why, but it’s only been a week since I met you and my life just feels so much brighter. You’re funny and sweet and god damn are you cute when you blush. I don’t want to experiment either. I want to woo you. To take you on dates and show you off and bring you gifts that make you smile. I haven’t felt like this since Ann and I never thought I’d feel this way again. I told you, I can wait, and I meant it.” 

Kelley let go of Emily’s hand and put both of them in her pockets and grinned cheekily.

“Hands are holstered.” She winked and Emily felt such a huge rush of affection for the golden eyed woman. She laughed, releasing some of her nervous energy.  
“Thank you Kelley.”

“Do you want to go back inside? I could walk you home if you aren’t up to anymore partying.” Kelley’s concerned expression returned.

“I think I’m good to stick around a little longer.” Emily smiled and Kelley reciprocated.

“Ok kid, you lead the way.”

………………………

When the two returned to the party they saw the team had all gathered in a circle with their drinks in front of them. Allie shouted with happiness upon seeing them rejoin the group.

“Boo boooos you’re back! You’re just in time for us to play Kings!!!!!” Allie had clearly already been losing at any of the drinking games she had been playing. Her crazy eyes, always a little bit apparent, were down right frightening, but she warmly smiled and welcomed the pair to their circle. At this point some of the girls had moved on to other parties or gone down for the count (Emily suspected Lindsey had been shepherded home by Rose and was headed straight for a long night hugging the toilet). It was just Allie, Ashlyn, Tobin, Christen, Alex, Ali, and Morgan left. Kelley sat down next to Allie and Emily decided to avoid temptation and squished in between Morgan and Ali. She hadn’t kept a close enough eye on her roomie that night anyway and checked in under her breath with her.

“Moe how are you doing?”

Morgan whispered back, “I’m greattttt!!!! Where’d you go hide roomster? I saw Kelley come back with you. OOOOOOO!” Emily shushed the flushed and tipsy girl who was getting a little bit too loud for Emily’s liking, all the while giggling at the absurdity of it all. The two heard Allie calling for their attention.

“Yo freshies, I’m about to tell you the rules of the game, so listen up. Basically you pick a card and then you follow the rule that goes with that card. Ace means waterfall, 2 is You, 3 is Me, 4 is Floor, 5 is usually guys, but we don’t have any of those, so it’s gonna be Lies where you do 2 truths and a lie, 6 is Chicks, 7 is Heaven,” and Allie pointed upward, 

“8 is Date when you pick a partner to drink with, 9 is Rhyme, 10 is Categories like breeds of dogs and you have to name them, Jack is Never have I ever, Queen is usually questions, but I like making it Truth or Dare, that’s way more interesting,” Allies eyes glinted mischievously, “And the last one would be King which means you Make a Rule! You got all that younguns’?”

Emily’s head spun and this time it wasn’t from the alcohol. She definitely had not gotten all that, but she nodded anyway and figured she’d pick it up as they went. Fake it til you make it!

“Great! I’ll go first.” Allie picked a card and the game began.

It was all going swimmingly and luckily Emily was less inebriated than many of her teammates, so even if she didn’t know immediately what a card meant she was still faster than poor Christen and Moe. Then things got a little interesting when Allie pulled a Queen. She immediately got a dangerous look in her eyes and turned to face Emily.

“Oh Sonnyyyy!” Allie called to the blonde in a sing song voice. “Truth or dare!!!”

Emily gulped and weighed her options carefully. She was pretty frightened of what the infamous prankster might make her do if she picked dare, but truth was never a fun option either. Emily looked around the circle hoping for some sympathetic faces, but all she got was Kelley struggling not to laugh and Ali and Ashlyn making googly eyes at each other. Emily sighed and resigned herself to her fate.

“Fine, I pick truth.”

“Awww you’re no fun!” Allie’s crestfallen expression at being denied the opportunity to make Emily look a fool was priceless. Kelley elbowed the blonde to get on with her question.

“Hmmmm alright Sonnett. I will be kind to you and won’t make you tell us who is the hottest one here because we all know the answer would be me anyway” Allie flipped her hair confidently and Emily hid her laughter behind her hand, “butttt I am gonna make it a toughie. If you had to pick someone on the team to send to a deserted island who would it be and why?”

Ali looked at Allie aghast, “Alzaaa why do you even think of these things?! Sometimes I worry about what goes on in that head of yours.” Allie shrugged and looked at Emily expectantly.

“Ummm besides the fact that this is a horrible and cruel question, you didn’t specify that it had to be someone other than me, so I pick myself. I’d leave a note for my family and they’d come get me anyway. So jokes on you!” Emily fist pumped triumphantly and the circle laughed. Allie looked a little bummed that her question hadn’t worked, but moved on from the disappointment quickly. Alex picked the next card and it was a Jack.

“OOOOOO never have I ever! Alright gals get those three fingers up and none of this nonsense where you sneakily try to hide when you put one down. You have to drink with each thing you’ve done too!” The circle groaned, but followed the bossy brunette’s instructions.

“Ok, ummm this is hard…” Alex tried to think of what to say.

“Oh puhlease Alex, don’t try to pretend you’ve done everything in the world. We all know you’re basically a saint.” Kelley pestered the girl.

Alex’s eyes lit up with glee when she thought of a good one, “Ok, never have I ever had feelings for a teammate!!!” She sat back and surveyed the group with a smug smile on her face. Ali, Ash, Tobin, and Christen all laughed good naturedly and immediately took their drinks and put down their respective fingers. Kelley looked up hesitantly towards Emily as she put down a finger and took a sip from her cup and Emily blushed a deep vermilion as she did the same. Emily’s new face shade did not go unnoticed by Allie and she pounced curiously.

“EMMMM tell me, tell me!!! Was this a high school teammate or is it someone we know! Oh my god is it someone here right now???” Allie looked like she might pass out from excitement over this juicy gossip. Emily froze, but before things could get any worse she was mercifully saved by Tobin.  
“Harry, leave the poor girl alone. She’s never gonna come back to a party again if you keep torturing her!” Tobin shoved her intrusive friend and kept the game going with her own never have I ever, an innocuous one about never having failed a class. 

Emily flashed Tobin a grateful look and received a thumbs up in return. The game was fairly uneventful from there, other than Ashlyn accidentally spitting her drink all over Ali during a dare where she had to try and sing with her mouth full, and soon they were all out of cards and energy. Tobs had started to fall asleep on Christen’s shoulder and was dangerously close to getting a sharpie mustache from the devil Allie, but Christen protectively shielded the sleepy girl and they moved upstairs to their room. Emily took this as a cue they should head home as well and she gathered Moe and Kelley, said her goodbyes and thanks to the rest of the girls and the three of them walked out into the night arm in arm.

Kelley was skipping and dragging the two freshmen along with her happy antics and the trio arrived back to their dorm quickly. The whispered and tried to be quiet in the halls so as not to incur the wrath of the RA. When they got to Emily and Moe’s door, Kelley was still right behind them, shuffling awkwardly. Morgan sensed the tension and quickly opened and shut their door, leaving the two girls to say goodnight. Kelley cleared her throat and scuffed her foot anxiously.

“I had a good time tonight and I hope you did too. I’m sorry Allie was so pushy, she can be an acquired taste.” Kelley smiled clumsily.

“That’s a good way to put it!” Emily laughed. “Kelley I did have a good time. I’m glad we talked.” She reached and pulled the slightly smaller girl into a hug and Kelley sighed into the contact. The two held the embrace a bit longer than would be considered friendly and Emily enjoyed the tickle of Kelley’s locks on her cheek. Finally they parted and they both smiled sheepishly.

“Can I see you tomorrow?” That soft, gentle tone from before was back and Kelley's eyes were full of hope.

Emily’s face fell. She hated to be the one dull Kelley's hope and she stammered, “I’m so sorry, but our floor is doing a trip to the lake tomorrow as like a last hurrah of summer thing, it’s supposed to be like an all-day event. I’ll see you Sunday at practice though?”

Kelley frowned, but quickly recovered and her usual grin returned. “Awww ok. Sunday it is then. I’ll be the one waiting in the car to drive you!” Kelley joked and turned to go upstairs to her room. “Goodnight Emily!”

“Night Kel.” Emily watched the radiant ball of sunshine as she walked away and smiled to herself.

Emily slipped into her room and saw Moe was already knocked out asleep in her bed and only her shoes had made it off before she hit the sack. Emily chuckled, pulled the covers over her roomie and got some water and aspirin to place on her nightstand. Emily got herself ready for bed and stared up at the ceiling, thoughts swirling. She was proud of herself for all the progress she’d made in a week, but she also wondered about what could have been had she not stopped Kelley on the porch. Images of her and Kelley crept out of her subconscious and Emily felt desire stir inside her and her pale skin flushed. Damn, I really should tell Tobin we can work on getting my gay card laminated she joked to herself and she fell asleep with a few dirtier dreams than usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? Did Emily make the right decision? Favorite parts? You know I love to hear your thoughts!
> 
> Also I think I will be able to get one more chapter done before my surgery, so you can look forward to at least one more before the long break, but I may hold on to the next chapter til the weekend instead of posting it immediately. Who knows. I tend to not have self control about sharing the fic with you guys lol. I hope you'll all be willing to wait if it does take me awhile to update though.


	12. Chapter 12 - You Like What You See?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this one and I think you're really gonna like it. I couldn't resist waiting until the weekend to post. Consider it a present before my recovery hiatus :D

After a bit of a slow start for her hungover, but happy roommate, Emily and Moe were enjoying their lake day with the rest of their floor. Both girls were pleased to spend time with other freshmen since they had felt a little guilty for not really getting to know people outside the soccer team. Turned out there were quite a few nice people who they lived with and it was a glorious afternoon of a little bit of awkward icebreakers (thanks Resident Assistants) and mostly chilling out, ignoring homework and college responsibilities.

Emily stretched out with her eyes closed on her towel in her black bikini top and pink bottoms. She relished the warmth of the sun on her heavily sun screened skin and she buried her toes in the soft, hot sand. She sighed contentedly and heard her roommate sit down next to her, having gone for a dip in the water. Not bothering to be roused from her little siesta, Emily started to doze until she was rudely awakened by the buzzing of her phone underneath her left thigh. She picked up the phone and shielded the screen from the glare of the sun to read her text.

Kelley: Dude is your roommate trying to kill me? Chester and I wish we were at the lake with you.

There was a photo attached of the stuffed squirrel dressed in a little Hawaiian shirt and oversize sunglasses and Emily giggled at the image. She had no idea what Kelley was talking about though and turned to question Moe.

“Why did Kelley just text me asking if you’re trying to kill her? What did you do to her?”

Morgan put a hand to her chest innocently and looked at Emily quizzically, “Me? I didn’t do anything to her?!”

“Hmmmm that’s really weird. I wonder what’s she’s talking about then. I guess I’ll just ask her.”

Emily: Aw next time he’s welcome to join! :D Btw Moe has no idea what you’re talking about. Did she do something last night that she doesn’t remember?

The typing bubbles appeared immediately, telling Emily that Kelley was either bored or very focused on their conversation.

Kelley: Go look at Moe’s instastory and tell me I’m not supposed to be a tiny bit affected by her post.

Emily pulled open Instagram and saw that Moe had taken a few different videos, one while she was in the water, one of a floor mate making a sandcastle, and then one of her walking back up to her towel which panned over to Emily deep in her nap. The next story was just a photo of Emily captioned sleeping beauty with the thumbs up emoji. Emily knew she had a nice body, but she had to give it to Morgan, she had a knack for getting an angle that exposed her muscles in a pretty sultry way. Emily finally put two and two together and her face got hot as she answered Kelley’s text. Luckily she could attribute her heated skin to the plentiful sunshine.

Emily: Ahhhh. You like what you see?

Emily bit her lip after she pressed send. This was dangerous territory for her. She’d never really flirted hardcore by text with anyone, let alone with Kelley and she didn’t know how she’d respond. Emily could see Kelley start to type and stop a few times and she wondered if Kelley was trying not to blow her cool. Finally the response came through.

Kelley: You have no idea. I already told you, it nearly killed me.

Emily: Well, I’ll be sure to never get in a bathing suit again then! I would hate to be responsible for your death ;)

Kelley: Don’t you dare say that. I’ll surely survive and may need a cold shower, but that shouldn’t deter you. In fact, tell Moe I’m now her most devoted follower.

Emily: Haha I’ll be sure to mention it. You enjoy that cold shower missy and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Emily showed Morgan the text exchange and got a wolf whistle of approval before she put her phone back in her bag. As much as she enjoyed the flirty banter, she was intent of soaking up the last of the summer sun and didn’t want her phone to bother her from her nap again. She turned over to “tan” aka burn and freckle her back. The rest of the day and night at the lake were lovely with some beach soccer, a cook out, and a bonfire and s’mores to top it off! Emily went to bed smelling like campfire and sugar and she was just incredibly happy.

………………………

Sunday morning meant church for Moe and sleep for Emily and then the two took a crack at the reading and assignments they’d been neglecting all weekend. Right before 2 Kelley knocked on the door and simultaneously walked into their room, not waiting for permission to enter. Kelley saw Emily sitting at her desk and wrapped her in a hug from behind, placing her chin on top of the blonde’s head. Emily felt the vibration from Kelley’s voice reverberate in her head.

“Hi. I missed you.” Kelley’s voice was a bit muffled from Emily’s hair. Morgan smiled at the pair and quipped from her desk.

“I missed you too Kelley!” Kelley laughed and let go of Emily to ruffle the young girl’s hair.

“Y’all ready for practice?”

The two nodded and grabbed their bags and walked out to the car, Emily with Kelley’s arm flung around her and Morgan walking behind observing the smitten duo.  
Practice was business as usual, although Emily did have to hide her laughter when Captain Becky returned to her team mom ways. Now that she had seen her alter ego, she just couldn’t help but giggle at the dichotomy.

The only hiccup during their Sunday workout came when they were scrimmaging and once again Emily was on the opposite team from Kelley. The ball went out for a throw in and Kelley took a moment to wipe the sweat from her brow using the hem of her shirt and Emily froze after getting a glimpse of Kelley’s glistening abs. Ali went to throw the ball in and thought Emily was looking, when she was in fact very much occupied ogling the freckled defender in front of her. The ball whacked Emily on the side of the face and bounced off the pitch for the opposite team to throw in. Emily heard Moe cackling behind her and knew she’d been caught staring. She blushed deeply and yelled a sorry to Ali before rubbing her bruised cheek and regaining her focus.

The rest of the night was fairly routine. Shower, check. Dinner, check. Finish reading, check. The car ride back to campus had included some hand holding, much to the delight of their biggest cheerleader Moe, but Kelley had dropped the freshmen off at their dorm and cited a group project meeting before driving away. Emily was almost relieved at the normality of her evening. She felt like so much had been thrown at her in a week and it was nice to have a predictable night.  
As luck would have it, the rest of her week was destined to be much of the same normal school activities, albeit a bit more work than the young girl had anticipated. Her Sociology professor approached her after class about helping out in her lab for a research opportunity, having read their first papers and been impressed with Emily’s responses. Of course Emily was thrilled and accepted, but the learning curve was quite steep and the research was tiring.

That’s not to say Emily’s week wasn’t filled with good moments. “Family dinner”, as Kelley had dubbed it, on Monday night was a hoot and Emily thoroughly enjoyed learning that Christen was not above pranking Tobin when she switched her ketchup for hot sauce and watched with tears of mirth in her eyes as Tobin fanned her tongue and cursed at her girlfriend affectionately. Emily ended up doing lunch with Ali again for her team buddy activity and revealed to the older, wiser girl that their conversation last week had been about Kelley. Ali pretended to be shocked, but she had noticed the way the two had gone missing on Friday and had put two and two together. Ali promised to be there to listen if Emily needed it and Emily thanked her profusely.

Throughout the week Emily and Kelley texted almost constantly, whether it was just to say hi or to send a picture of a dog they saw on campus or to figure out where the other one was to grab a bite to eat. Emily learned that when Kelley was excited, she added way too many emojis and Kelley learned that Emily tended to shut off the sound on her phone far too much for her liking. More than once she would barge into their dorm room just to ask why Emily wasn’t responding and Emily would look up from whatever book or paper she was focusing on with a sheepish grin. Kelley had even decided midweek to hang out in their room to study so she could interrupt Emily to her heart’s delight.

The casual touches and lingering glances only multiplied as their friendship deepened and even the likes of Alex and Ashlyn started to notice their special bond and inability to remain in separate places for long. Emily felt incredibly close to the older girl, but the romance factor was a bit tempered after the sparks had been flying on Friday. Emily wasn’t sure if Kelley was intentionally holding back and she was too busy with her new school responsibilities to figure it out immediately, content to let things happen naturally.

When Friday rolled around, Emily was dog-tired from the intense workload that had been piled on from her professors. Morgan had invited her to join at an improv show that Lindsey had found out about, but all Emily wanted to do was watch Netflix and decompress from her crazy week. 5 episodes of Stranger Things and many stifled shrieks later, Moe came back to find Emily in the same spot she had left her and chuckled. She asked Emily if they could turn off the light and go to bed and Emily reluctantly agreed. 

While Emily had been so exhausted she thought she’d pass out earlier in the evening, the thrilling show had left her a bit wired. She tossed and turned for a bit, but all she could focus on was Morgan’s soft little snores. Every time Emily thought she was going to fall asleep, Moe would make a snorty sound and it would jolt her back awake. Then she got an idea. She grabbed her phone and sent a text to Kelley.

Emily: You awake?

Emily tried to keep the phone under her covers so as not to wake Morgan with the light.

Kelley: Was just gonna watch some Parks and Rec before bed. What’s up?

Emily took a deep breath and made a bold decision. She rolled out of bed, doing her best to navigate in the dark and avoid making noise, slipped on her slippers and shuffled into the hall and up the stairs. She gathered her nerve, wiping her sweaty palms on her pajama bottoms, and knocked on Kelley’s door quietly. Emily heard movement inside the room and KO opened the door, her confused expression turning to one of delight when she saw the anxious blonde.

“Sonny! To what do I owe the pleasure?” Kelley’s voice was a little scratchy like she hadn’t used it for a while and she had faint pillow lines on her face which Emily found incredibly adorable.

Emily scratched the back of her calf with her opposite foot awkwardly and mumbled,

“Uh well Moe is snoring and I couldn’t sleep and you said you were awake, so um I thought maybe we could watch Parks and Rec together?”

Kelley looked a little bit surprised and pleased at Emily’s words.

“Oh! Sure, um come on in!” Kelley swung the door open and gestured to welcome her.

Emily took in Kelley’s room, not having spent much time in the small space. The walls were covered in soccer and surfing posters along with a corkboard of family and friend photos. Chester was perched on Kelley’s bed along with a couple other cute furry friends. She noticed that there was a desk, 1 chair, a bed and a wardrobe, but unlike Morgan and Emily’s double, there wasn’t room for any extra lounging chairs, leaving the bed the only spot for the two of them to watch the show. It occurred to Emily how forward that might seem, but she knew what she wanted and she swallowed her fear and let her adrenaline drive her. Kelley seemed to have come to the same conclusion and she gestured to the bed, uncharacteristically blushing as she spoke.

“After you, guests first.”

Emily climbed onto the bed and made herself comfortable and Kelley got in after her. The two girls’ knees were touching and Kelley offered a blanket for the two of them to share all the while queueing up the comedy on her laptop. Before she pressed play, she turned to Emily and softly asked,

“Is this ok?” Apprehension was evident in her eyes and Emily’s thoughts from earlier that Kelley had been holding back all week were confirmed. Emily took Kelley’s hand in hers and snuggled into her side.

“It’s perfect.”

As they watched the episode, Kelley managed to play a little footsie under their blanket and the skin on skin contact all the way up to their thighs due to some short pajama bottoms was making Emily squirmy. She could smell that distinct citrusy and flowery scent of Kelley’s shampoo and the sound of Kelley’s laugh was music to her ears. Emily felt her breathing getting a little quicker and her skin getting hotter and she glanced quickly to a serene looking Kelley and marveled at how she could be so in control. On her third peek at Kelley out of the corner of her eye, the smirking girl caught her. Kelley brought her hand up the Emily’s cheek and brushed it ever so slightly.

“You had an eye lash.” Kelley held out her finger with the blonde lash on it. “Make a wish!”

Emily closed her eyes and tried to think of a wish, but all she could think of to wish for was the girl right in front of her and she didn’t need to wish to make that happen. Instead she opened her eyes again and gazed deeply into those confounding, color changing ones belonging to the freckled brunette. Emily could see a flicker of Kelley finally losing her cool as she gulped at the tension. Emily spoke softly in a low tone.

“I think you know what I would wish for Kel.” Emily pushed the stray piece of hair that had landed on Kelley’s cheek and tucked it behind her ear, letting her hand linger in Kelley’s mane, running her fingers through the locks. Kelley’s intense eyebrows shifted up on her face in amused shock and her eyes darkened while Emily’s grip tightened in her hair, grasping at the back of Kelley’s neck. The last two weeks of tension buzzed in the air. Kelley inhaled sharply and croaked out,

“Are you sure?” and Emily knew she didn’t need to use her words to answer. She looked Kelley in the eye and brought their lips together ever so gently, almost not even touching, asking permission for them to move from friends to much more.

What started as gentle, evolved into a kiss full of lust. Emily felt desire blooming deep in her abdomen as Kelley responded viscerally to Emily’s initial peck. Kelley’s lips moved purposefully against Emily’s and they were softer than Emily had ever imagined. They tasted faintly of strawberry chapstick and Emily had no idea kissing could be so delicious. Boys always had chapped, rough lips and they never tasted like fruit. Emily’s lips parted, giving Kelley’s persistent tongue entrance and their noses brushed a bit awkwardly as the two got used to each other’s movements. The same intensity that Kelley showcased on the field translated into her kissing and her hands roamed Emily’s back and waist while her tongue fought Emily’s for dominance.

Emily let out a soft moan as Kelley moved her body closer, wrapping an arm around Emily’s waist and pulling her into her own lap. She trailed kisses down Emily’s jaw and sucked on the skin just below her ear. When Kelley grazed her teeth across Emily’s neck and soothed the bite with her tongue Emily gripped Kelley’s thigh tightly in response, needing to grasp something, to be tethered to something. Her heart was beating rapidly and the throbbing in her core was overwhelming. Kelley moved upward to rush back to pay attention to Emily’s lips, and she moved her knee in her haste. It pushed between Emily’s parted legs and Emily gasped and pulled back.  
The two were both breathing rapidly and Kelley’s eyes flashed with concern at Emily’s abrupt withdrawal. Her lips were swollen and a deep pink and her cheeks were flushed. Emily had never seen anything so sexy before and she felt the heat and color rise in her face.

Panting a bit Emily broke the silence, “I need to stop Kel. That was amazing, but I have to stop.”

Kelley took Emily’s hand and kissed her fingers gently. She hummed happily against Emily’s pale skin and the vibrations tickled Emily in an appealing way, “Mmmmm, do we have to? Your skin is so delicious.” She kept kissing up Emily’s arm a bit, nuzzling her with her nose.

Emily giggled at the tickly kisses, but she pushed Kelley’s chin up to look at her and take her seriously. “One more kiss and then I’m going, ok?”

Kelley smiled and placed a much softer kiss on Emily’s lips. She sighed contentedly as the contact ended, but she kept her forehead pressed against Emily’s for a moment, tracing patterns on Emily’s knee.

“If I promise we’ll just sleep, would you think about staying here? I just don’t want to not be close to you.” Kelley asked in a soft and hopeful voice.

Emily looked into her sparkling eyes and she couldn’t resist their magnetic pull. She kissed Kelley’s nose and nodded.

“But only sleeping! And only because I want to avoid Moe’s snoring for the night. I don’t know what kind of girl you think I am, but I’m a southern gentlewoman!” Emily joked and Kelley smiled back happily.

“I promise, only sleeping.” Kelley had a sincere look on her face and Emily knew she was being completely genuine about just wanting to be near her for the night, which made her heart swell with fondness for the older girl.

Kelley got up to turn off the lights and moved her laptop to her desk. The two maneuvered under the covers a bit cautiously and awkwardly, both nervously laughing a bit. Sharing a college twin bed is never super luxurious, but Kelley made it feel cozy. She wrapped her arm protectively around Emily’s waist and burrowed into her back. Emily’s heart was still beating fairly quickly at the newness and excitement of the events that transpired, but she felt like she fit so perfectly next to Kelley that she found herself calming down and relaxing into her snuggle companion. Emily chuckled to herself. Of course Kelley would be the big spoon she mused, she always thinks she’s bigger than she is, like one of those little yappy dogs who challenges a lumbering oaf of St. Bernard or a Newfoundland in a dog park. The two snuggled contentedly and as Emily was drifting to sleep she heard Kelley murmur against the back of her head.

“Sleep tight Em.”

Emily smiled in the darkness and whispered back.

“Sweet dreams Kelley.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well was it worth the wait? Are they too precious for words or would you have preferred a longer slow burn? Leave me your reactions and tidbits of happiness to find tomorrow in my vicodin haze lol.
> 
> Hope you're all here waiting for new chapters when I can get around to writing them again!
> 
> P.S. Some of the formatting was being weird. Sorry bout it!


	13. Chapter 13 - By the Light of the Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! Thank you for being so patient with me. Not gonna lie, typing this took AGES with my sling on and I still have it for 2 more weeks and then PT after that, so I'm not sure the updates are gonna be fast, but I tried my best :) Ignore any typos and such. Lets be real, I needed to write this because the roster news for June was so SHITTY and I needed some happy in my life. It's like Jill is trying to destroy everything I love. Anyway, I hope you like it :D

Emily felt the soft warmth of the sun on her face as the rays peeked through the blinds in Kelley’s room on Saturday morning. Little puffs of breath on her neck tickled her in a pleasing way as Kelley was nestled deep against her back like a koala, with her arms wrapped tightly around the slightly taller, lankier girl’s firm midsection. In the night, Emily’s pajama shirt had edged its way up so Kelley’s hands were directly on her skin with no material between them and now that she was exiting dream land Emily could feel the blush in her cheeks even before opening her eyes. Even with her face betraying her with embarrassment, she couldn’t be more content.  
She sighed with happiness and resigned herself to waking up and glanced at the clock to see it said 9:30. A bit earlier than she normally would be up on a Saturday, but still a respectable hour to sleep in til! Emily started to wriggle around to face the freckled face snuggle monster behind her and she heard little grunts of protest as she did so. She chuckled and placed a soft kiss on Kelley’s forehead and mumbled a good morning into her skin. With an adorable little pout that made Emily’s heart skip a beat, Kelley opened her golden eyes and blinked sleepily.

Kelley yawned and softly whispered, “It wasn’t a dream… You’re still here!” Her eyes sparkled as she realized her reality. She traced her hand along Emily’s jaw and went to kiss her good morning and the younger girl pulled away laughing with protest.

“Kel I have morning breath!” she said and she wrinkled her nose with disgust.

“Mmmmm I bet it tastes delicious anyway, just like the rest of you” Kelley said in a muffled voice as she kissed Emily’s shoulder instead. Kelley was oblivious to the possible connotation that her words could mean, but Emily turned fire engine red as she thought about them. She reached down to pull Kelley’s face back up level with hers.

“Um that actually brings up something I wanted to talk to you about…” Emily shyly muttered.

Kelley cocked her head curiously to the side and ran her hands through Emily’s hair and down her back, settling on her hips. She couldn’t keep her hands to herself, still marveling at the good fortune that the blonde was in her bed this morning.

“Ok, what’s up buttercup?” Kelley smiled at the term of endearment.

Emily shifted a bit in bed anxiously as she formulated her thoughts.

“Well I just wanted it to be clear that this isn’t something that I normally do, like I don’t normally wake up in other people’s beds” Emily mentally smacked herself for her awkwardness.

Kelley smirked a little, “Well I know we slept together last night, but it’s not like we SLEPT together.” Kelley emphasized the words with her eyebrows, “and even if we did have sex last night and it was something you did all the time, it wouldn’t matter. I’m a modern woman, I’m not gonna slut shame you.” Kelley shrugged as she made her last point, but Emily looked down and shook her head.

“Noooo you don’t get it” she mumbled. “I, well, I’ve never really dated anyone before, let alone a girl. Oh god this is embarrassing.” Emily put her hands over her face.  
Kelley chuckled and peeled Emily’s hands off her head. She kissed her fingers and looked at her encouragingly.

“Go on, I’m listening. It’s not embarrassing to tell me what’s on your mind, I promise.”

Emily bit her lips and let the words spill out quickly when she opened them.

“I’ve never done anything but kiss boys before. I’m a virgin! It’s important to me that you know that. I’m not saying like I don’t want to, because dear god I do, I just I don’t know what I’m doing and when you said I taste delicious I got all flustered and now you’re laughing at me! You promised!” Emily scowled when she saw Kelley had an OHHHHH expression on her face and that she was giggling.

Kelley’s laughter sputtered to a stop and she struggled to put a serious expression on her face before she started talking. She took Emily’s hand in hers and stroked her thumb back and forth reassuringly.

“Emily you just looked so cute trying to explain yourself and I finally got what you had been trying to tell me that I couldn’t not laugh. I’m sorry. I’m completely ok with you everything you just said. We’ll go as slow as you want, but I have to ask this. “Kelley’s voice was filled with trepidation and Emily’s heart raced a bit in anticipation.

“Do you want to be out? Like if I asked you to be my girlfriend would that be ok and we could tell people? You know my history, so this is really important to me and honestly I don’t want to fall deeper for you if you can’t be what I need.” Kelley’s thoughts had sobered her quickly and she looked solemn.

Emily contemplated what Kelley had just asked her. When she had been freaking out about her feelings for Kelley she hadn’t actually taken her train of thought to the step of what it would be like telling lots of other people. When she thought harder about it though, she got a warm feeling at the idea of telling her friends about her awesome girlfriend and showing her off. It didn’t scare her nearly as much as it probably should have. When she started college, she never would have imagined any of this would have happened, but now it seemed like it had been inevitable and the world had just been waiting for the right moment.

She couldn’t even believe it had only been 2 weeks since she arrived on campus and bumped into Kelley in the hall because it felt like she had known her forever. Everyone said college time was accelerated, but damn were they right! She'd come out to herself and kissed the girl of her dreams all before midterms! Maybe because she hadn’t really dated anyone before so there weren’t any preconceived ideas about her, the idea of saying “I’m gay” to her high school friends just wasn’t terrifying and like Tobin said, she didn’t need labels if she didn’t want them! She wasn’t super excited about explaining all of this to her Grandma, but she was pretty sure she wouldn’t get disowned or anything.

Emily realized she’d been silent for just a tad too long and Kelley was looking at her expectantly, worry evident in her eyes. She decided morning breath be damned and leaned in to kiss Kelley gently on the lips.

“I would love to be your girlfriend” she mumbled into Kelley’s plump pink lips as they pulled apart. “I’m not sure I’m ready to shout my gayness from the rooftops or anything, but yes I want to be out eventually and we can tell people. I would never treat you like Ann did.” Emily looked into KO’s eyes sincerely. “I don’t want to keep you a secret! Have you seen how freaking hot you are?!” Emily joked to ease the tension.

Kelley’s smile was so wide it reached the very edges of her face and her eyes crinkled. She flipped her hair confidently and teased back.

“Well then how’s about we get ready for the day and you let your freaking hot girlfriend take you out on a date?” The joy in her voice was contagious and Emily found herself grinning ear to ear as well.

“I can’t think of anything I’d rather do! What did you have in mind?” Emily asked.

Kelley smiled back coyly, “That’s a surprise. Just wear comfy shoes ok?” Kelley had sat up in bed and was inching her way around Emily trying to jump off. Her boundless energy could never be curbed.

Emily laughed to herself and praised the deities for allowing her to be this happy as she jumped off the bed herself and went back to her room to get ready for her date. She stealthily slipped back into her and Moe’s room and was relieved to see her friend still snoring softly. She couldn’t wait to tell Morgan all about last night, but she wanted to savor it for a little longer before bursting the bubble she and Kelley had created. Emily got ready quickly and quietly and when she met Kelley in the lobby the two made their way to the car hand in hand.

………………………

When Kelley pulled into the parking lot of a rundown looking diner 20 minutes later Emily turned to her with a skeptical look on her face, but after the best breakfast burrito of her life Emily was singing a different tune.

“Ok Kel, seriously that was friggin’ amazing. I’m gonna dream about that meal for the next week. Thank you for my breakfast date!” Emily pecked Kelley on the check as they walked back to the car. Kelley turned to Emily with an incredulous look on her face.

“You thought that was our date?!? That was just breakfast! I think I know how to woo a girl better than just feeding her a burrito” Kelley scoffed.

Emily shook her head and laughed, “You are too much! Also you clearly underestimate the power of an excellent burrito.”

Kelley bounced happily to the car and opened the passenger door, “Well excellent breakfast food aside, we still have things to do today! C’mon, your chariot awaits for the rest of our date!” She waggled her eyebrows at her rhyme and Emily cheerfully slid into the car.

They started to drive and Emily playfully tried to guess where they were going, getting increasingly more and more ridiculous in her speculations.

“Hmmmmm are we going to your private jet so you can whisk me away to your castle in Paris?” Emily jested.

“Yes, that’s it. You caught me. I’m actually secretly an heiress and my time at college is all just a test from my parents to try and teach me what life is like in the real world.” Kelley replied with a straight face and her eyes trained on the road in front of her.

Emily giggled and decided that she wanted to get under Kelley’s skin because she needed to have a surprise of her own on this Kelley controlled first date day. She reached across the stick shift and rested her hand on Kelley’s bare upper thigh just below the hem of her shorts while the freckled girl drove. She traced patterns there enjoying the hitches in Kelley’s breathing and goosebumps that appeared as she did so. She gleefully hummed to herself along with the radio, feigning obliviousness to Kelley’s fidgeting. Suddenly Kelley slowed down the car and pulled off to the side of the road in a cluster of trees. Emily looked at her confused and was shocked to see Kelley’s darkened eyes boring into hers with arousal. Emily swallowed thickly and without words their parking adventure turned into a frenzied make out session in the front of the car.

10 minutes later, some majorly disheveled hair and swollen lips later, the pair broke apart breathing heavily. Kelley broke the silence while still panting a bit.

“Sorry, you do things to me. We’ll go slower. I promise I listened to you this morning.”

Emily shyly considered Kelley’s words, “Yeah I’m definitely not opposed to the speed we’re going. That was really sexy. You just like pulled off the road and couldn’t resist me, no one has ever looked at me like that before!”

Kelley playfully ruffled Emily’s hair, “Well duly noted. I’ll mark that move as sexy for the future.”

Finally after their little detour, they arrived at the location of their date and Kelley turned to Emily with an excited smile.

“I know you said you’re a dog person, but I’m hoping you’re also an all types of animals person because the zoo is one of my favorite places.” The two got out of the car and talked while they made their way to the entrance of the zoo.

“I love the zoo! My family used to go all the time when I was little and Emma and I would go home and pretend to be all the animals for the rest of the day. Our favorites were the meerkats. We’d perch behind pieces of furniture and look back and forth in unison and made little burrow holes out of pillows. It would drive our parents nuts, but they kept taking us back so I think they secretly thought it was cute.” Emily rolled her eyes at her parents choices in retrospect.

“Jerry and Erin and I used to do the same thing! We always made Jerry be an animal that we didn’t know what sound it made so we could tell him he had to be mute for the afternoon and then eventually he’d start crying after not being able to talk for an hour and Erin and I’d get sent to our rooms, but it was totally worth it for that 1 hour of blissful, brother free silence.” Kelly’s eyes twinkled mischievously as she retold the story.

“Oh my god you were such an evil big sister!” said Emily with an astonished expression.

“If by evil you mean brilliant, then you’re right.” Kelley quipped back and she winked.

The pair bought their tickets and meandered about the animal filled park holding hands and bumping hips and trying not to be too awkward and obvious about how smitten they were with each other. Kelley was remarkably hilarious at impersonating the animals and Emily almost pulled a muscle from laughing so hard. They shared burgers, fries, and lemonade at the zoo cafeteria to escape the sun for a bit and Kelley’s heart filled with joy when Emily kissed the ketchup off the corner of her mouth instead of just telling her she had something on her face.

Emily knew that it meant the world to KO that she was willing to show any public displays of affection and it really didn’t bother her, so she showered her with any tidbit of affection she could. Anything to make her smile and for her golden eyes to light up. She felt like each moment erased some of the pain from Ann hiding their love and she loved the fact that she could help Kelley heal.

The date was a perfect day, minus a minor incident of excessive teasing after learning that Kelley had been mispronouncing Djibouti her whole life. Some pouting turned into Emily buying ice cream to cheer up her sullen girlfriend which resulted in chocolaty, sticky grins and giggles, so it was all for the best in the end. They arrived back on campus with slightly crispy, sunburned skin, new freckles for both of them, and smiles that were permanently pasted on their faces. With promises to text her if she found something fun to do that evening, Kelley dropped Emily at her dorm room door with quick glance around the hallway for onlookers before they shared a slow, languid kiss.

“Thanks for today. I had a wonderful time. It was a really special day.” Emily squeezed Kelley’s hand as she unlocked the door.

Kelley blushed uncharacteristically, “Yeah?” She shuffled her feet a bit. “It was special to me too. Um is it ok if I tell Alex about it?”

Emily pondered quickly, “Sure! I’m fine with just letting the team know casually. You can tell the people you want and if other people notice, then good for them. We’ll just act the way we want and people can figure it out!”

“That sounds like a plan.” Kelley went in for a hug and turned to go up the stairs, “See you later sugar lips!” Kelley groaned, “Ok even I thought that was awful. Pretend that didn’t come out of my mouth.” 

Emily laughed as the older girl disappeared behind the stairwell door and she turned the knob to go into her dorm room. Immediately she was accosted by her roommate.

“Where have you been all day mystery woman?! You’re never awake before me!” Morgan interrogated the blonde.

“Oh Moe, you have no idea. You’re not even gonna believe it!” and Emily sat down to tell her roommate the tale of the craziest 24 hours of her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment/tell me what you think because I've missed you all so much! Favorite part? Any ideas going forward? I'm open to suggestions :)


	14. Chapter 14 - Highs and Lows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy weekend! Lots of stuff in this one. Not gonna spoil any of it tee hee.

Emily was happy. She was that kind of happy where it felt like little woodland creatures were following you around to a Disney soundtrack or the type of happy that makes other people want to punch you out of jealousy and she didn’t care a wit. She was relishing her happy!

The rest of the weekend had been a blur. Kelley had texted Emily that Alex had flipped out (in an I TOTALLY CALLED IT WAY) when she called her to tell her all about their date and the smitten pair had spent 20 minutes texting before they realized Kelley could just come downstairs and they could talk in person. This had resulted in Saturday night movie snuggling with Moe snickering from across the room as she and Kelley tried to be subtle when their hands were wandering. Sunday was a mad dash to actually complete some homework before practice. They had their first game next weekend, so practice was a bit more tense than usual and Becky was barking orders, trying to find a solid formation. All the girls were dripping sweat and were too exhausted to even sing along to the radio after the workout.

She and Kelley hadn’t even had the chance to tell anyone on the team yet other than Alex and Moe about their date on Sunday because no one was in a good mood and it made Emily feel weird about being so happy in every other part of her life. She wanted to share her joy with her teamies, but she didn’t know how to do it without being awkward. Luckily she had her now weekly buddy lunch with Ali on Tuesday and she spilled the beans to her. As was to be expected, Ali was over the moon excited for the two of them and Emily knew she could count on her to start the gossip chain so that most of the team would know by practice the next day. She had muttered something about double dates and taking care of her little baby gay ducklings and Emily had laughed nervously, not really knowing if she was being serious or not.

At practice Wednesday Becky had told Emily that she’d be starting at center back with her instead of Julie because JJ was going to miss the game for a church group event and when Kelley found out they’d be playing alongside each other she forgot about playing it cool around their teammates in her excitement. She jumped on Emily and wrapped her legs around her, showering her in kisses, almost like an enthusiastic puppy. Emily laughed and squirmed while flushing a bit from embarrassment and from the feeling of Kelley in her arms. The rest of the team clapped once Kelley leapt off the taller girl and KO took a bow.

“Thank you, thank you my adoring public! No autographs please!” Emily rolled her eyes and shoved the theatrical defender playfully.

“Ok Kel, they get it. Um yeah so we’re dating if you hadn’t already heard. We totally are going to keep it professional on the field, that is if Kelley can keep it in her pants!” Emily looked pointedly at the freckled face next to her and Kelley just shrugged.

“I’m not making any promises!” Kelley snickered and pinched Emily’s ass which made the blonde yelp and swat at her. 

The rest of the team has just laughed good-naturedly while Ash had shouted some sort of welcome to Team Sapphic Dream. Overall it couldn’t have gone better.

………………………

It had been a week since she and Kelley had their first date. A week of good morning and good night texts, and stolen kisses in class and hands under shirts and blankets while pretending to study and racing pulses and best of all learning that Kelley swore and moaned in the sexiest way if Emily bit a certain spot on her neck. There were definitely a couple of strategically placed scarves and sweaters that both girls had been utilizing all week to cover their more adventurous kissing moments. Emily was dreaming about that particular noise of Kelley’s when her alarm buzzed loudly and she sat up swiftly. Emily had been looking forward to this day since Becky’s announcement on Wednesday because it was GAME DAY! She reached for her phone and saw her daily good morning message from Kelley, which made her heart flutter with happiness.

Kelley: Hey champ, today is game day! Can’t wait to see that cute butt kicking grass and taking names today ;)

Emily smiled. She was still getting used to this whole openly being called cute and she could tell Kelley she was cute back, but damn was it fun!

Emily: Good morning! I won’t be the only cute butt on the field! I get the better view from CB watching you streak up the flanks :D

Emily glanced over to see if Morgan was in her bed still and was relieved to see she must be showering since her towel was gone. She got up to get ready for the game instead of watching Kelley’s typing bubbles anxiously.

Kelley: What if we make the game more interesting?

Emily could sense Kelley’s mischief in the text since she had a devil emoji at the end.

Emily: Yeah? What did you have in mind?

Emily stopped moving around her room and perched on her bed tapping her feet, nervous about what Kelley was going to ask. She waited with baited breath and it was torture because Kelley didn’t seem to be able to make up her mind on what she wanted to say.

Kelley: If I score a goal, I get to take you out dancing at a frat party tonight, get you just a little drunk and then take you home. I’ve been dying to know what would happen with a tipsy Emily when her body takes over ever since our moment on the porch… Plus I want to show you off.

Emily gulped. She couldn’t deny that the idea of Kelley’s undulating, grinding, sweaty body against hers awoke something deep inside her. She definitely had been feeling more and more turned on each time they kissed and things went further, but they hadn’t gone beyond hands roaming and kissing above the shoulders/neck. Clothes had definitely remained ON and Emily was certain that her drunk self would be a lot more receptive to her carnal desires than her southern belle sober self. She swallowed her fear and dove in head first.

Emily: Hmmmm I think that could be arranged. But what would I get if I score a goal?

Emily was pleased with herself for playing it cool and she was rewarded with a blissfully quick answer from Kelley.

Kelley: Welllll I’ll take you out to dinner at that little bistro that doesn’t card and buy you expensive wine and then later I’ll do that thing you like where I bite your earlobe and if you’ll let me I’ll introduce other parts of your body to my talented teeth and tongue.

Emily felt her mouth go dry and she was super grateful Moe wasn’t in the room because she could have stopped a freight train with her stop sign red face and there’s no way she wouldn’t have been teased mercilessly. Emily’s next move was a bold one.

Emily: Do tell. Which body parts would your mouth like to be more acquainted with?

If Emily could have seen Kelley’s face, she would have known just how turned on the older girl was as well as how worried she was about taking this all too far, but she didn’t have x-ray vision to see into KO’s room and instead was anxiously worried she herself had pushed the limits of what they were ready for. What if she wasn’t prepared to reciprocate on these proposed actions in person?! Her buzzing phone disrupted her thought storm.

Kelley: Lets just say I’ve been thinking many things since Morgan posted that beach photo of you and one of them might be what it would feel like to lick down your abs and rake my teeth across your hip bones.

Emily: Well I guess I better score a goal then.

Kelley sent the kissy face emoji back and Emily finally returned to getting ready for the game, satisfied that she hadn’t royally fucked up her flirting and amped up even more than she had been before. It wasn’t often that she got the chance to score while playing CB, but she was more than motivated to make it happen.

………………………

Their game was against their rival school and it was on their home turf, so they had to drive about 30 minutes to get there, but each car had a pump up mix curated by Crystal to get them fired up and the time went by quickly. The excitement was palpable since it was the first match of the year and warmups were spirited and jovial. Kelley whispered in Emily’s ear as she was stretching out her calves.

“Been thinking about our goal celebrations all day” and Emily shivered. She looked up into Kelley’s dark, hooded eyes and pressed a quick, firm kiss on her lips. Kelley looked like she wanted to leave the field and abandon the game entirely to start their celebrations early when Becky called the team to huddle up.

“Alright ladies, I don’t need to tell you that we want to win this one. Lets start the season off on the right foot. Focus on possession and the goals will come. Don’t get stuck ball watching and keep with your marks. Listen to your keeper and to me and we should be just fine. Hands in!”

“I, 2, 3, TEAM!”

And the game began!

Since it was a club game, it was only 30 minute halves, but you wouldn’t know these girls weren’t Division I soccer stars from the way they were playing. Tackles were hard, runs were precise, set pieces were executed with meticulousness and the atmosphere was one of the utmost seriousness. Ash was a holy terror in goal, saving their butts more than a few times. Kelley was like a bat out of hell streaking up and down the left side while Ali lofted perfect cross after cross into the box from the right. Ali and HAO had a right side chemistry going on while Tobin and Kelley seemed to be in perfect sync from the opposite flank, but the balls just weren’t going into the net from the feet of the forwards. Crystal had a very close call that the other team’s keeper tipped over the top of the net and Allie and Alex had both tried to get their heads on a couple of HAO corners, but the finishing touch wasn’t there yet. Christen had yet to even get a shot off that was remotely in frame! At half time the game was still tied and Emily could see the frustration on her competitive girlfriend’s face.

While Becky tinkered with the lineup, subbing in Moe (who was jumping out of her skin with excitement at getting on the pitch for the first time) for Allie, Pinoe for HAO, and Syd for Christen, Emily went over to Kelley to try to calm her down. She put her arm around the agitated defender and softly spoke to her.

“Hey you know you don’t have to actually score a goal to get me to go dancing with you right? I’d be happy to go if you just asked! You just seem like you’re trying to invent the wheel out there and not enjoying yourself. It’s just a game, I’ve seen how you play when you’re just hanging out. You’re at your best when you let your joy shine through.”

Kelley had snuggled close while Emily talked and Emily could feel the sweat from their bodies making them a bit sticky, but she didn’t mind. The smaller girl and looked up at her in awe.

“Dude you clearly are going into the right field if you’re studying Psychology cause you just got right to the root of my problem in like 2 seconds! Are you sure you weren’t secretly Freud in a past life?” Kelley gave her the side eye like she was looking for Emily to transform into the bearded Psych legend any second and the two shared a much needed laugh. Kelley relaxed back into Emily’s side.

“Good to know though that I just have to ask. So we’re going out tonight?” Kelley’s eyes glimmered with mischief and delight.

“Anything you want babe.” Emily responded happily, using the term of endearment for the first time and loving the way it felt to say it. In the middle of their lovefest they heard a loud throat clearing sound and looked up at their Captain glaring at them.

“Can we get this show on the road or should we delay the game due to sickeningly cute flirting?” Becky softened her admonishment with a smile and the pair guiltily said sorry and the 2nd half of the game began!

Despite the substitutions, the 2nd half was much of the same. Great crosses, lots of chemistry, valiant efforts, but no balls in the back of the net. With about 2 minutes to go Pinoe finagled a corner kick for them and when she went to take it Becky urged Emily forward, trying to get all the bodies in the box that they could. When Megan struck the ball and Emily saw it flying right at her she knew she had a real chance at a goal and she calculated the exact moment she needed to jump to get the perfect header. As soon as the ball connected with her head, she knew it was going in. It just felt that right.

Her teammates crashed around her, whooping and hollering and any spectators would have thought they had won the World Cup with how excited they were. Emily had to admit that Kelley’s flying squirrel style celebrations were pretty fun to watch, as she sailed above her teammates in their huddle with her mad hops, but she was pretty sure the kiss at the end and the smirking grin and whisper in her ear about cashing in on their bet was a new addition to the celebratory routine. She jogged back to her spot in the backline buzzing with adrenaline and blushing from her toes to her nose.

Needless to say the atmosphere was merry as they made their way back to the cars after snatching the win 1-0. Morgan had her arm slung around Emily’s shoulder and was chattering about how they needed to find cute outfits for the party later, Alex and Allie were gossiping about boyfriend things, and Kelley was galloping around them excitedly screeching “We are the championsssss!” not able to move on from the high of the win just yet. They were putting their bags in the trunk when they heard a strange voice call out to them from the sidewalk.

“Kelley? Kelley O’Hara?” 

The questioning words came from a lithe, stunning young woman dressed in a perfectly casual yet put together maxi dress with wedges that Emily would have fallen flat on her face in. Her skin was tan and glowing, her arms were toned and looked quite appealing in her dress, and her raven hair fell in soft waves down her back. Emily self-consciously tugged on her sweaty jersey and wiped sticky pieces of her hair from her forehead even more aware than usual just how pale she looked in the sunlight. Girls like her always made her nervous. She glanced at Kelley who was frozen with an expression like she just seen a ghost. Alex nudged the unmoving girl.

“Kel she’s talking to you!” Alex pointed at the unknown beauty.

“I knew it was you! I’d recognize Reba just about anywhere. How are you? What are you doing on campus?” The still unidentified brunette chattered happily moving towards Kelley to converse.

Kelley looked confused, but seemed to snap out of her daze and laughed nervously, “Oh haha yeah she is a distinctive car… Um you guys, this is Ann. Ann these are my teammates, we’re here for a soccer game.” Kelley’s voice hitched a little bit as she introduced who the gals now knew was Kelley’s infamous ex. 

Alex, ever the cool cucumber smoothly held out her hand and introduced herself, while Allie was far less subtle and was gaping and elbowed Emily in the ribs. She hissed into her ear.

“Gurl that’s the woman who broke your woman!” She widened her eyes and jerked her head towards Ann.

Emily rolled her eyes at the ridiculous blonde and whispered back, “No shit Sherlock! I heard her.”

“Aren’t you gonna go over there and mark your territory?”

“Oh my god you are such a cave woman! I mean, it’s not really my place right? If Kelley wants me to meet her, she would introduce me!” Emily shifted back and forth on her feet, feeling more out of place by the moment.

Moe interjected, having overheard their not so subtle whispers, “Em you’re totally allowed to go over there, you two are dating.”

Allie pushed the blonde towards them. “Chica just go over there and say hello so we can leave! Bati and I have plans tonight and I need to beautify myself.”

Emily looked more closely at the 3 girls. Kelley, Alex, and Ann were deep in conversation while Allie, Emily, and Moe had been whispering and Emily heard the trio laugh heartily. Ann reached out and casually put her hand on Kelley’s shoulder while she giggled. Kelley was smiling instead of her anxious confusion from earlier and seemed to be melting into her comfortable, flirty personality. Emily felt a little flare of jealousy and she purposefully strode over to join them, but she heard Kelley say something in response to a question that Ann must have asked her that made her stop.

“Oh, sure! I mean I guess it wouldn’t be awful to catch up and I’m pretty hungry from the game. Alex would you drive Reba back to campus for me? Ann can give me a lift back after dinner.”

Alex had the decency to look a little skeptical about her best friend having dinner with her ex who had totally messed her up, but she took Kelley’s keys and nodded.  
“Ann, lemme just put my soccer crap in the trunk and grab a fresh shirt and we can go ok?”

“Totes, I’m gonna make a phone call over on that bench, just come get me when you’re ready!”

Emily watched the whole thing unfold and couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that this was a bad idea. She was pretty sure that what had gone down was that Kelley had just forgotten her promise to wine and dine her to stand her up for her ex who tore her heart into tiny pieces and stomped on it. The whole thing made her more than a little upset. She got in the car and sat in silence while Kelley babbled and changed her shirt.

“How weird is it that I ran into her? It’s such a friggin’ small world! Em, she said she was so sorry for what happened and that she wanted to catch up to make up for all the lost time. Isn’t that great? I’ve missed my high school friends so much and she said that Rebecca had asked about me the other day and they want to all get together when we’re home for winter break! Em? Helllloooo?” Kelley waved her hands in front of the now stoic girl.

“Oh sorry, what did you ask me?” Emily replied monotonously.

“I didn’t ask you anything really, I was just telling you that I’m gonna get my friends back and I thought you’d be happy for me…” Kelley looked at her curiously. “Do you have a problem with me having dinner with her?”

Emily’s eyes flashed with annoyance, “Kelley you’re a grown woman, you can have dinner with whoever you want.”

Kelley eyed her warily, “Whoa ok cranky pants. Someone must be hangry…” 

“Yep, that must be it Kel.” Emily sarcastically responded.

“Geez ok, I’m gonna go. Text me if you want to tell me what’s going on.” 

Kelley closed the door emphatically and walked over to Ann, waving goodbye to the rest of her teammates who were climbing into the car. They all watched the pair walk away across campus and Alex turned on the car to drive them home. Crystal’s pump up mix blasted to life and the girls silently listened to the jams. Finally after the dulcet tones of Fergalicious came to an end, Alex flicked off the sound system and broke the awkward tension.

“So Sonny, you didn’t tell us you had secret header powers! That was a badass goal!”

Emily smiled at the older girl’s attempt to make her feel better and the car jumped back to life rehashing the game, chuckling as Allie got heated about a foul called on her that was quote ABSOLUTELY SAVAGE unquote.

The girls’ phones all chimed at the same time and they saw a group text inviting everyone over to the soccer house for victory dinner and drinks and Emily felt beyond grateful. She wasn’t gonna stew over Kelley’s broken promise, she was going to have fun with her teammates and let loose. Maybe the evening wouldn’t be a bust after all, they could get dolled up and go to that frat party Kelley had told her about! She turned to Morgan and cracked a devilish grin.

“Who’s up for a little dancing after dinner?”

The car erupted in cheers and the outfit ideas started flying as they pulled back into campus.

………………………

The team was dressed to the nines and strutting their stuff as they arrived at the rager. Emily was feeling relaxed and a little wobbly after the drinks Syd had made (she said Dom taught her everything she knew and Em was pretty sure that meant he just tried to get her drunk enough to say yes to dating him back when they started college.) They were fashionably late having showered and eaten and hung out at the soccer house pregaming. JJ saw Zach (he was a member of the hosting fraternity and had been at the party for awhile) and squealed excitedly while Crystal, Alex, Allie, and Syd calmly grabbed their men and dragged them to the dance floor. Ash and Ali had attracted the attention of some leering boys when they started to dance and the pair decided to head to the backyard for some privacy instead.

Tobin assessed the party sitch and quickly pulled Emily to the beer pong table, insisting that she needed more booze to handle the fratastic vibe. The pair sunk shot after shot and gathered a little cheering section at their exploits, but 3 games later after they finally lost Emily was buzzing and needed to move around. She nudged an occupied Tobin who was making out with Christen now that she wasn’t playing the game and told her she was going to the dance floor. Tobin shot her a thumbs up without breaking her kissing stride and Emily wandered over to the area of the house with the thumping bass.

She could see Moe dancing with Lindsey and Rose and she laughed at the trio and their goofy moves. She kept glancing around the dance floor, hoping to find Pinoe who had promised she was quite the dancer, when her heart stopped. Kelley was there. Kelley and Ann were dancing and laughing. Suddenly the gentle dizziness from the alcohol became overwhelming and the room was spinning. Emily ran out the back door of the house and threw up in the bushes. Coughing and sputtering with tears burning her cheeks after her stomach pyrotechnics, she felt a hand on her back and spun around.

“Hey there champ, want me to walk you home? We’ve all been there.” Becky nodded with understanding.

Emily just shook her head yes while the snot dripped from her nose. She felt pathetic and small.

Becky turned out to be the perfect ear for Emily as they walked home. She didn’t try to interject or fix things, she just listened and made sympathetic humming noises as Emily spilled her guts. When they were back in Emily’s dorm, she helped the still wobbly and teary freshman brush her teeth and get ready for bed. The older, wiser blonde tucked her in and told her to drink some water before she left for her own dorm and Emily fell asleep in that way that slams into you when you’ve had too much to drink. She didn’t even hear Moe come in to go to bed 20 minutes later and she certainly didn’t hear the buzzing of her phone as Kelley texted her.

Kelley: I’m so sorry. Can we meet for breakfast tomorrow to talk?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? Don't kill me for the cliffhanger pleaseeee. I'm sorry for all you all who had commented that this fic is just happy and fluffy cause I'd been planning this chapter for awhile and didn't know what to say lol. What can I say, I live for the drama. Do you all hate me now?
> 
> I will try to write quick and not leave you hanging with this one, but this weekend is gonna be a busy one.


	15. Chapter 15 - Is this ok?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, ok so I just have to say when I started writing this I never thought it would get to 10,000 views or over 200 kudos. I'm really glad you all are along for the ride and seem to be enjoying this! Your comments make me want to write faster, so keep 'em coming :D
> 
> Also friendly reminder this fic has a mature rating. You have been warned! ;)

Emily’s head pounded and her mouth was dry like it was filled with sand. She groaned and squinted as the daylight streamed into the room. Her eyelids seemed to be glued shut and there was a faint ringing in her ears. The supremely hungover blonde heard soft chuckling as she tried to muster the strength to lift her head (which felt like it was bursting and at the same time stuffed with concrete) off her pillow.

“Morning sleepyhead! Or should I say afternoon! You’re lucky we don’t have practice today, cause I don’t think you’d be able to make it through without passing out from the looks of you.” 

Emily finally managed to lift her head, along with her arm and a choice finger aimed in her roommate’s direction, to see Moe was perched at her desk chair working on an assignment and had an almost smug look on her face mixed with pity. Emily grunted an indiscernible response of displeasure before finding her voice,

“Oh my god I’m never drinking again. Morgan I think my head is trying to explode. Last night might have been the worst night ever.”

The much more chipper girl laughed and waved off Emily’s hyperbolic statement.

“Oh silly goose, it’s just your first hangover! You’ll be fine once I take you to the dining hall and get some grub in you. A little water and some greasy food will do the trick. Lets get you up and at ‘em little miss drunky pants! It’s already past noon. I’ve been to church and almost finished my physio project, in the time you’ve been sleeping, so I have time to help you get through this momentous occasion.”

Emily eyed Morgan with a bit of annoyance at her extraordinary morning abilities, but allowed her to coddle her and get her on their way to the dining hall. In their haste, Emily didn’t even glance at her text messages and all the texts from Kelley remained unseen. While walking, Morgan breezily queried Emily.

“By the way, did something happen last night with you and Kelley? This morning when I got up for church she was sitting outside our door, just on the floor leaning against the wall and dozing like she’d been there for awhile. I told her you were still passed out from last night, but I’d let her know when you got up.”

Emily sighed. She definitely needed coffee and something resembling pizza or cinnamon rolls or basically anything with cheese or butter before she explained her meltdown from the text bet, KO going to dinner with Ann instead of her, and then seeing them all touchy-feely at the party.

A quesadilla and 2 cups of coffee later Emily had explained all of the drama from the previous day, including the string of dirty texts which earned her a clap on the back of approval. Although she left out the precise details of her embarrassing inability to keep her stomach contents in their rightful place. While she had been appropriately sympathetic and outraged at Kelley’s inconsiderate behavior, Morgan interrupted hastily when Emily got to the end of her tale when Emily said that Kelley hadn’t even tried to talk to her since leaving her in the car after the game.

“Wait, but Em she said she texted you! She was worried about you since you hadn’t answered at all. That’s why she was outside our room this morning! She looked a wreck.”  
Emily’s eyes widened in realization of her neglecting her phone.

“Oh shit. I was too tired this morning and didn’t even check anything.” 

The much more put together blonde after her pick me up treats reached into her pocket and swiped her screen. Her eyes widened at all the missed messages. After the initial 2 AM apology Kelley must’ve gone to bed, but starting at 9 there was a text every hour.

Kelley: Just woke up and all I want to do is apologize in person. Please come find me when you’re up! I need to talk to you.

Kelley: I bought those muffins you like from the coffee shop downtown. Can I bring you one?

Kelley: Em is everything ok? Becky said you were sick last night and she took you home early and now I’m worried. I didn’t even know you were going to the party… I’m gonna wait outside your room.

Kelley: Moe made me leave the hallway. She said I was being a creeper and you were still sleeping. I really hope that’s the truth and you’re not just ignoring me. Emily you have no idea how sorry I am. I was so stupid. I didn’t mean to hurt you.

Emily’s head was spinning. Emily was positive now that Kelley had cheated on her. That had to be what she was apologizing for right? Not just being sorry for ditching her and not fulfilling her promise to take her to dinner after Emily scored the goal. Her heart clenched, her stomach dropped, and she pushed down the bile in her throat. There was also a text from Tobin and Emily decided to focus on that one since it didn’t make her queasy.

Tobs: Yo, can you come over to the soccer house asap and help me with our Italian project? Sto morendo!!!

Tobin had some skull emojis at the end of her declaration of death and Emily chuckled, relieved to have something to do instead of confronting her girlfriend and amused by Tobin’s antics. Morgan cleared her throat anxiously, trying to get Emily to update her.

“So???? What did she say?”

Emily stood up to throw away her trash and gather her stuff.

“She just apologized a bunch. I don’t want to deal with it right now, I’m still upset. Besides, Tobin needs my help with one of our classes. I’m just gonna text Kel and tell her I need a little time and then go over to the soccer house.”

Emily got out her phone to text back both girls and Morgan put her hand on Emily’s arm to stop her.

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do? Kelley looked pretty distraught this morning, I really think she’d like to talk to you.”

Emily huffed in frustration and tried to keep her voice down to not attract attention in the dining hall.

“I don’t want to talk to her! The longer I wait the longer I get to ignore the fact that she reconciled with her Amazonian high school sweetheart and cheated on me when we’ve barely even begun, ok Moe?” 

Emily looked at her roommate pleadingly. She knew this wasn’t the mature, healthy response, but damn it she didn’t feel like being mature right now anyway! Morgan looked at Emily and softly replied with a sad tone.

“Yeah, I get it. You do what you need to do Em.”

Emily pulled the skinny girl into a hug. It wasn’t Morgan’s fault, any of this and she didn’t need to yell at her. When they broke apart she fired off two texts, the first one to Tobin.

Emily: I’ll be over in about 30 minutes. Gotta get my stuff together and walk to the house. Don’t worry, I’ll turn you into an Italian maestro in no time!

Then she thought for a moment about what to say to Kelley and came up with the perfect response. It was the only thing she could write that wasn’t gonna make her cry and gave her some time to live in denial land a little longer.

Emily: Not ignoring you, truly was sleeping. I need some time to think, but I’ll call you when I’m ready to talk.

A response from Tobin buzzed as Emily was typing to Kelley.

Tobs: EXCELLENT. We have the door unlocked since we’ve been hanging out in the backyard, so just come on in when you’re here. Also Christen needs a dress for a presentation tomorrow and apparently nothing in her closet or in Ali’s is acceptable. Can you bring one for her to try?

The little shrug emoji was thrown in there and Emily could imagine Tobin rolling her eyes at Christen needing a dress when she probably had a closet full of acceptable choices. Emily cracked a smile. At least she still had friends she could count on to make her laugh!

Emily: Sure, I’ll bring a couple options over. See you soon!

The roommate pair walked back to their door to get Emily’s stuff for her visit to the soccer house and Moe sighed at her delusional roommate. There was no way Kelley cheated on her, she’d seen how worried she was and how much she cared this morning as well as how smitten the two of them were! Everyone has stupid moments, but Kel wasn’t THAT stupid. Still it wasn’t her place to get in the middle of their spat. All she could do was listen and support the baby gay that was the amazing Emily Sonnett. Moe put her arm around her roommate and sent sympathetic vibes her way.

………………………

Emily arrived at the soccer house loaded down with a couple of dress options for Christen and her Italian books. Remembering Tobin’s message about the unlocked door, she hoisted all her stuff into one arm and let herself into the house, yelling for the residents’ attention as she walked in.

“Tobs I’m here! Christen? Ali? Ash?” 

Emily walked further into the house and yelled into the backyard, but there wasn’t anyone there. Curious and confused why the girls were nowhere to be found, she wandered around the house.

“Tobin I’m here to save your butt or as the Italians say, culo…”

Emily’s voice trailed off as she entered the dining room. She didn’t understand what she was seeing in front of her. The lights were dimmed and the room was filled with candles while the table was set with fancy silverware, and a vase of stunning red roses. There were glasses of champagne and extravagant cupcakes that looked so delicious Emily’s mouth was watering just seeing them across the room. She could smell Kelley’s perfume in the air and her heart pounded hard in her chest. Just then there was a throat clearing sound behind her and she turned to see a sheepish Kelley dressed in a lovely black and gold sleeveless dress with a very deep V that made Emily a little weak at the knees. The young, startled girl started to stammer, but she was still overwhelmed and speechless. She looked around for a place to sit and walked over to the living room couch and flopped down. Kelley joined her on the couch, the concern painted all over her face.

“Em I know you said you needed time before you wanted to talk, but I already had this planned and you were on the way after Tobin’s text. I’m incredibly sorry that I forgot about our dinner plans. I just got so excited when Ann mentioned reconnecting and at the idea of not being a social pariah back home that all my other thoughts went out the window. You weren’t around after my first winter break at home, but it was pretty awful. I basically stayed at home with my parents and Jerry every night because none of the people from high school wanted anything to do with me. Erin would invite me out sometimes out of pity, but that was almost worse. I was in a bad place last year 2nd semester.” 

Kelley’s voice wavered and she took a steadying breath.

“I know that’s not an excuse, but truly I was just being stupid and wasn’t thinking. Can you say something? Is this ok? I’ll go if you want me to, but please don’t want me to.” 

Kelley’s eyes were full of need and Emily couldn’t stop herself from comforting her. Emily grabbed one of Kelley’s hands in hers and put her other hand on Kelley’s cheek and wiped away the tears that had started to sprout in the corner of her eye. Kelley wasn’t off the hook just yet though. She had some questions. Emily pulled back and looked at Kelley seriously.

“Kel, I saw you and Ann at the party last night. Do you know how that felt? I thought you were cheating on me! You two were dancing close to each other and Ann just seemed so flirty and she broke your heart, so who’s to say you don’t still have feelings for her!? This is all so new to me and I trusted you and it seemed like you just betrayed me. Why didn’t you text or call when you got back to campus?” 

Emily was getting a little hysterical and starting to cry. Kelley put her finger up to her lips to stop her. She gently kissed her lips, relishing the feeling of their softness against hers. Kelley sighed softly and dove in to answer Emily’s questions.

“I’m sorry I did that to you. I would never want you to feel that way and if you’ll let me, I’ll make it up to you. Yesterday was really important because it helped me definitively know that I am for certain, 100% over Ann. She doesn’t make me feel even 1/10th the way you do. When I see you my heart races and sometimes I forget to breath. She feels like the past and you feel like the future Em. You’re right, I should’ve texted when I got back to campus, but my phone died since I didn’t have my car charger and I just left it in my dorm to charge when I went to the party.”

Kelley shrugged and smiled a little, chuckling to herself before she kept on answering, 

“Oh and the dancing? That’s just me! I like to dance with everyone! Ask Alex how many times people have thought we were a couple because I was all up on her. When Ann drove me back to campus her boyfriend” (Kelley stressed the word emphatically) “came with us. He must have been getting drinks or something when you spotted us cause they were grinding on each other for most of the night. Trust me it was nauseating.” 

Kelley smirked at her last statement and Emily giggled and sniffled at the same time.

“So are we ok? Cause I’ve been looking forward to surprising you with this belated celebration ever since I thought of the idea this morning and I’d hate for it to go to waste. By the way, have I mentioned how proud I am of you for scoring that game winner? Cause I am. It took all my self-control not to jump your bones the minute the ball went in the net. I’ve have you know that winning is a major turn on.” 

Kelley’s eyes darkened and she licked her lips unconsciously. Emily rushed to respond.

“Kel, we’re more than ok. I don’t know how you got all of this put together in like a few hours, but it’s really amazing. I shouldn’t have doubted you. In the future, I might not be so forgiving, but with what you went through it all makes sense. I’m glad you got closure, but I’m even happier to have you all to myself. Trust me, you weren’t the only one having impure thoughts after that goal…”

Emily’s head was still reeling from information overload, but all she knew was she wanted those pouty lips on hers. She quickly closed the gap between them and roughly they crashed together. Kelley’s lips parted and her tongue darted out to taste Emily’s. They battled for dominance, hands twisting in hair and roaming down backs. Kelley kissed down Emily’s cheek to her ear, noting the saltiness of her skin from the dried tears. When she bit her earlobe just like she had promised Emily moaned, her body alive with desire. Suddenly Kelley pulled back with a strained expression.

“Em we can’t do this here. I want you in my room where I don’t have to be quiet and I can deliver on my text promise. Can I send you up to Ali’s room to change into one of the dresses you brought and we can enjoy the champagne and dessert? I’m sure Chris and Al are waiting on the other side of the door to see if my plan worked anyway, isn’t that right guys??”

Kelley raised her voice at her last sentence. They heard yelps from the other side of the wall and Christen and Ali guiltily walked into the living room.

“Can you blame us? We’re rooting for you two!!!” Ali shrugged. “C’mon Em, lets go get you prettied up so Kel can treat you!”

Christen slung her arm around the blonde and ushered her upstairs, Ali chattering away about jewelry she could borrow. Kelley shook her head at her ridiculous friends, grateful for their help and for Emily’s forgiveness. She couldn’t believe how easy it had been to fuck everything up and she didn’t intend to do it again.

………………………

“Kelley what would you have done if I had said no to Tobs when she asked me to come over to help her with Italian?” 

Emily was tracing patterns on Kelley’s arm as they snuggled happily in her bed. Their afternoon snack had been wonderful, since chocolate and champagne heal all, but it was almost wasted since they had rushed through the delectable romantic gesture to get some alone time. Kelley sighed happily before answering.

“You never would have said no. You have such a kind heart, even if you try to pretend you're made of stone Ms. Slytherin, plus you know just how hopeless Tobin is!”

Emily playfully shoved Kelley. It was true though. Tobin really was hopeless and she couldn’t resist helping her. Emily hummed with contentment. She should be doing homework and reading, but she was just so happy that yesterday was behind her and to have Kelley back again that she couldn’t imagine being anywhere but near her. She felt the vibration of Kelley’s voice as she spoke while kissing up her arm.

“Mmmmm this dress. When you came back down the stairs my only thought was what it would be like to peel this dress off you.”

Color rose in Emily’s cheeks at her statement. Kelley’s tone was unabashed like she’d been talking about the weather, which would have been funny if Kelley’s kisses weren’t making Emily’s body tingle all over. She swallowed and responded, trying to muster up a sultry tone.

“Well I seem to recall introductions are in order since I came through on our bet…”

Kelley stopped her kisses abruptly and sat up to look at Emily in the eye.

“Ok, this is gonna sound super not sexy, but I need some ground rules here. It would be really easy for me to get carried away. I’m pretty sure once I get your dress off I’m gonna lose all self-control, so please appeal to my brain now.”

Kelley laughed and looked down embarrassed at her declaration. Emily blushed an even deeper red and laughed nervously.

“OH! Ummmm well I was kinda hoping for maybe some like above the waist kinda action? I know this sounds like totally grandma status, but I don’t want this to be my first time. It should be special!”

Emily started to ramble a bit, getting caught up in semantics. 

“I’m not sure what you qualify as sex cause isn’t that like the question people always ask? Like what exactly counts as lesbian sex? Anything once my underwear is off counts with girls right?” 

She seemed to realize that the word vomit she was spewing was actually out loud and not in her head and her eyes widened in embarrassment. 

“Oh my god, I am mortified that I actually just said that! You must think I'm a total dweeb.”

Emily buried her face in her hands and peeked through her fingers at her girlfriend who was grinning cheekily.

“You are so friggin’ adorable. Maybe we’ll do some reading on Autostraddle later and I’ll show you the is it sex chart they wrote just for shits and giggles, but for now I think some above the waist action can be arranged.”

Kelley reached to remove Emily’s fingers from her face and pushed the hair from her face. Her hand trailed down Emily’s back, leaving goosebumps along the way, and hovered over the zipper. She looked at Emily for permission, her eyes soft but glimmering with desire.

“Can I?”

All Emily could do was nod and Kelley tantalizingly slowly pulled the zipper down. Emily wriggled out of the top, and Kelley kissed the soft skin on her forearm as she pushed the black spaghetti straps down her porcelain arms. The top half of the dress pooled at Emily’s waist as she sat on the bed. Kelley stared blatantly drinking in the newly exposed skin, appreciating the soft swell of Emily’s breasts in her bra and gulping slightly at the defined muscles on her abdomen. She softly grazed her fingers across Emily’s hip bones, before standing up off the bed.

Emily looked startled at the loss of contact before she realized Kelley was evening the playing field. In a swift motion Kelley pulled the zipper down on the side of her own dress and stepped out of it, completely comfortable in her boy shorts and bra. Kelley smirked at Emily’s sharp intake of breath as she took in Kelley’s toned physique.

“Jesus Kel. Warn a girl why don’t you?”

Emily’s voice was raspy and strained as Kelley climbed back into bed. She took note of the rapid way Emily’s heart was beating against her lips as she kissed the skin just above Emily’s bra cup.

“Em are you sure this is ok? We can stop anytime.”

Emily decided that actions speak louder than words and she reached behind her back to remove her bra, indicating this was all definitely ok. It was Kelley’s turn to be surprised and she bit her lip in enthusiastic appreciation. She responded in kind by removing her bra as well, exposing her already hardened nipples. The two moved closer together and Kelley took control, placing her hand behind Emily’s neck and pulling her in for a deep, slow kiss.

Emily groaned at the feeling of Kelley’s nipples against her skin and the way her core throbbed at all the new sensations. She could feel Kelley grin into the kiss at her vocalizations. Kelley liked to hear her that was for certain. She moved from Emily’s lips to her neck and slowly made her way to her small, pert breasts, tentatively cupping them and pinching her pink nipples. Emily gasped and clenched her fists and Kelley stopped, removing her hands and looking to Emily questioningly.

“Wait don’t stop, that was a good gasp, I promise. Please Kelley?”

Kelley responded enthusiastically, replacing her hand with her mouth, circling the pink bud with her tongue and appreciating the way it hardened in her mouth as she sucked gently and then reveling in Emily’s groan of pleasure as she bit down lightly, alternating between teasing with her tongue and teeth. One of Emily’s hands were tangled in Kelley’s hair, the other clenching the sheets rhythmically. During Kelley’s displays of skill using her mouth she had also been massaging and teasing Emily’s other breast with her hand. The little huffs of pleasure were music to her ears and Kelley could feel herself getting wet just listening to her girlfriend. Emily’s hips bucked involuntarily and Kelley stiffened a bit at the welcome contact of Em’s thigh against Kelley’s underwear. Knowing she was getting to the point of no return, she released her grasp on Emily’s breasts and traveled back up her neck, leaving kisses and marks along the way until she arrived at her lips and stopped with a gentle, yet firm kiss.

“How was that?” Her tone was smug. She knew it had been great. Emily was panting a bit, her eyes full of lust.

“Fuck, I don’t know how I’m even gonna get through anything more than that.”

Kelley laughed heartily and Emily shyly looked up before asking a question.

“Can I try?”

Needless to say, the pair forgot to go to dinner that night and Emily’s homework remained untouched as they discovered different ways to enjoy each other’s company and talked late into the night. When Emily finally padded back to her room, Morgan eyed her knowingly as the blissed out expression on her face indicated all was well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeeeeek! These two right? You all know I'm new to fics, so if you have any feedback on writing smutty stuff, I'm all ears cause I'm not sure how I feel about what I wrote.
> 
> Also fun fact this is the Autostraddle is it sex chart and it's kinda hilarious.
> 
> http://autostraddle.tumblr.com/image/13292944920


	16. Chapter 16 - Thinking of You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you all watch the USWNT this week/weekend? Obvi they did fine, but Jesus Jill your team really should be playing better. Kriegs and Em best be in the mix next time! Dear Lord Moe, Tobin, Ash, and Alex need to be healthy soon. It's like no one is even on the team anymore! :( But enough about my hatred of good ol' J'Ellis.
> 
> Lots of stuff going on in this one. NSFW. I hope you all like it :D

A little over a week later Emily found herself at lunch with Ali for their weekly chats. She was absent mindedly fiddling with her straw wrapper trying to listen to the older girl talk about how Ashlyn had managed to change everyone in the soccer house’s auto corrects on their phones to say HELL YEAH when you type no (which had resulted in Ash asking them in a group chat if she could buy a pet shark. She immediately got 5 HELL YEAH’s due to her antics and everyone thought it was one of her better pranks), but Em found herself unable to focus. 

The last week or so had been so wonderful with Kelley, full of domestic moments like doing homework next to each other in the library with their feet brushing under the table and just enjoying each other’s company, as well as frustrating moments like when Kelley kept bothering her during class trying to show her puppy videos and Emily really needed to focus. The good definitely outweighed the bad though and she felt they were growing closer than ever. The overarching theme that was keeping Emily up at night though, was her complete and utter head over heels lust.

Anytime the two of them were alone, hands were flying. More than once KO had called a time out and told Emily she needed to go downstairs to her own room before they went further than they were ready to go. Each time it happened Emily became surer that she was far more ready than Kelley was giving her credit for, but she didn’t know what to do about it. Emily was caught up in a daydream about Kelley’s lips kissing up her spine when Ali waved in front of the glassy eyed girl for her attention, chuckling as Emily startled out of her chair, almost falling to the ground.

“Alright Em, I know that I talk a lot sometimes, but I’m not that boring. What’s on your mind kiddo?”

Emily shook her head and rubbed her eyes, still trying to clear her mind and allowing herself some time for her blush to recede after being caught thinking dirty thoughts. She stumbled a bit as she tried to get the words out and phrase her questions in a way that wasn’t completely humiliating.

“Sorry, I should’ve been listening to you. It’s just, do you remember what is was like when you and Ash started dating? Like sparks flying all the time and not being able to pay attention to anything?”

Ali nodded knowingly and raised her eyebrow for Emily to continue. Emily wrung her hands nervously and looked down at the table as she mumbled.

“Well I was just wondering, like how did you know you were ready to take the next step, you know physically? I’ve never slept with anyone and Kelley makes my head spin in a way that makes me want to, but she keeps making us stop before we go there. Also when you did it with a girl, how the hell did you know what to do?! It’s not like they teach that kind of stuff in school!”

Emily took a deep breath and sighed, relieved to have gotten all of that out. Ali’s eyes got a bit wide as she realized the turn the conversation was taking, but she took it like a champ and channeled her gay Yoda skills for this talk.

“OH! Ok. Well I can’t really help you with the knowing I was ready because for me and Ash there wasn’t really time for us to decide. We’d been dancing around our feelings for each other for so long that we couldn’t wait at all. We sealed the deal the night of the Christmas party. Basically the minute our teammates let us leave we couldn’t get our clothes off fast enough. Ash was so sweet though and it was snowing outside and I swear it was magical.”

Ali looked a little wistful as she remembered their young love fondly and Emily cleared her throat and had a slightly embarrassed expression on her face. Ali chuckled before continuing.

“But Ash wasn’t the first person I slept with and I had a couple rules in high school that served me well. First, if you can’t talk about sex with your partner openly, then you’re not ready to be having it. End of story. Second, you need to know yourself first. Being comfortable with your own body is key. How can you expect someone else to make you feel good if you can’t tell them what “good” means for you?”

If Emily thought she had an embarrassed expression on her face before, it didn’t even compare to now. Her cheeks were bright scarlet and her face felt like it was on fire. Ali was looking at her expectantly, waiting for an answer.

“Um yeah, alone time? That’s not really something that has been happening since I have a roommate…”

Ali waved her hand indicating that was no big deal.

“Oh there’s always a way to find some time for yourself girl! You’re not on the exact same schedule as Moe, you just need to be creative!

Ali winked and Emily thought she was going to melt into the floor in a puddle of embarrassment. Sometimes Ali could be so like a Mom! The well-meaning brunette continued dispensing her wisdom. 

“That’s my suggestion if you want to be more comfortable your first time. After all, you’ve got the same parts, so you have a way to practice! Obviously it’s different with another person, but we are totally at an advantage compared to guys because we actually understand what feels good to women! But Em? This is something you should be talking about with Kelley. That way she can tell you what she likes and help you when you two do have sex. And like I said, if you can’t talk about it with her, then you really shouldn’t be doing it.”

Ali finished her sentence with a self-satisfied smile on her face, certain and proud of her excellent advice giving skills. Emily had to admit, Ali did have a point and she certainly had a more mature outlook. She sighed.

“You’re right, I’ll talk to Kelley. I told her before that I wanted my first time to be special and I think she took it a bit too literally. We need to be on the same page.”

Ali clapped happily and her grin was contagious.

“Yay! I’m so excited for the two of you. You both are just precious and I just love seeing Kelley happy.”

Ali kept gushing over the two of them and Emily nodded along, already moving on to a plan she had for Wednesday morning to put part 2 of Ali’s advice into practice.

………………………

Emily woke up early on Wednesday, letting Morgan set an extra loud alarm that would rouse the both of them before Moe left for her 8:30 class. When she had asked her roommate to make sure she was awake before leaving in the morning, the early bird had looked at her like she was crazy (everyone knew how devoted Emily was to sleeping in), but she had obliged once Emily promised not to shank her from being cranky. After waving at the chipper girl and shrugging off invites to join her in breakfast with lies about a paper that she needed to work on, Emily got to work. 

Mumbling to herself, “I can’t believe I woke up at the crack of dawn and I’m doing this. Ali better be friggin’ right.” She laid back on her bed, took off her pajamas and tried to think of different things that would get her in the mood. As she was starting to let her mind wander and her hand was finding its way between her legs, her phone buzzed loudly, interrupting her thoughts.

“Crap!” The blonde wiggled to reach her phone and shut off the sound when she saw Kelley’s name on the screen.

Kelley: Morning babe. On my way to class and I know you’re sleeping, but wanted to be the first to say hi to you!

Emily paused. Instead of turning off the sound, she started to compose a response. There was no better way to be turned on then to talk to Kelley herself!

Emily: Surprise! I’m awake. Just lying in bed, thinking about what you’d be doing to me if you were here next to me…

Emily saw the typing bubbles appear immediately and she bit her lip in anticipation.

Kelley: Fuck Em, are you touching yourself? Cause that’s maybe the hottest thing I’ve ever thought of…

The conversation went rapid speed from there.

Emily: I might be. I was hoping for some sexy inspiration. Do you know anyone who could help a girl out?

Kelley: Oh, I think I know someone who can be of assistance. Shit. This is so unfair. I’m in the back row of class so no one can see my computer and we can continue this ;) but I’ll have you know that I’m gonna be majorly hot and bothered when I see you at practice tonight.

Emily: Really? Why in the world would you be hot and bothered? ;)

Kelley: Oh stop it. You know why.

Emily laughed, but she didn’t have time to respond as another text came through quickly.

Kelley: But if I were next to you right now instead of in class, I’d start kissing you long and hard as my hands traveled up and down your body, finding your breasts and cupping them. I’d move my lips from your neck to your chest, happily sucking on your perfect pink nipples, biting and teasing, while removing my own clothes…

Emily gulped and her thighs clenched a bit. Keeping her phone in one hand and leaving her other hand available to take care of the pulsing between her legs, she answered.

Emily: I’d help you remove your clothes, gliding my hands to your ass and squeezing it.

Kelley: Mmmmm my core would be throbbing, but I would keep my attention to you, moving my face lower onto your delicious abs and raking my teeth across them.

Emily read Kelley's response and swallowed thickly. She decided to take the plunge. She was going to show Kelley she wanted things to move along further and she was ready for more. Her fingers slid through her own folds as she imagined what she wanted Kelley to do to her.

Emily: I’d lift your head so I could take off my underwear. I’d be so wet for you, just waiting for you to touch me, bucking my hips towards you.

Emily didn’t know it, but Kelley’s eyes widened with surprise at Emily’s forwardness and her hands hovered over her laptop's keyboard in hesitation. She didn’t want to scare Emily off, but she had been the one to start this, so who was Kelley to judge? Either way she was squirming in her classroom seat, completely oblivious to the lecture occurring and wishing more than anything that this Professor didn’t take attendance.

Kelley: I know you would be soaked, which would turn me on. I’d leave kisses all along your inner thighs, teasing you, waiting for you to cry out for me to touch you.

Emily: If you wait too long I’d slide my hand down and get started, I’m not a patient person ;)

Emily wasn't sure where her confidence had come from, but she was glad it had arrived because Kelley rewarded her with words that made her shiver. 

Kelley: I would bat your hand away, wanting you all to myself. Then I’d suck on your clit while plunging my fingers inside you.

Emily’s breath hitched and she almost dropped her phone as her other fingers worked between her legs, mimicking Kelley’s words.

Emily: I would moan at the pleasure of having you inside me, tasting me…

Kelley: I’d give you more, while making sure I didn’t go too hard. It would be easy for me to get carried away fucking you. I’d alternate licking your clit and lapping at your folds with my hard and fast finger pumps.

Emily was beyond caring at this point. She was close and her fingers slide between her folds with ease.

Emily: Get carried away, I need more of you.

Kelley’s face was crimson as she tried to keep her cool in the back of her classroom. She typed back, desperately wishing she could see be anywhere but where she was at the moment.

Kelley: I’d pound you, wanting so badly for your cum to run down my face. My lips would suck your clit rhythmically as your breath quickened and you started to scream my name.

Emily: Fuck Kel. I’d scream out as my walls tightened around you.

Kelley: I would keep stroking until you stopped quivering, letting you ride it out. Then I’d pull out gently, leaving kisses as I came back up your body to hold you.

Emily was breathing heavily and could still feel the rhythmic pulse after her orgasm. She had no idea how Kelley was holding it together in class and whatever the female equivalent of blue balls was, she was certain her girlfriend was experiencing it.

Emily: Jesus. I’d say that was a success.

Kelley smirked in her desk and crossed her legs inconspicuously, trying to relieve some of the pressure that had built up during their text exchange.

Kelley: Maybe for you. I’m dying over here.

Emily laughed out loud as she saw they typing bubbles continue.

Kelley: But on a serious note. Are you ok with what just happened? It wasn’t too much?

Emily smiled at Kelley’s concern. She was so lucky.

Emily: Yes! I’m not sure how I’d react if it was in real life and not by text, but I really enjoyed all of that. Can we try in person sometime?

Kelley: How about we plan for Saturday night? I’ll take you out and make it a special night. And if at the end of the date you decide you’re not ready, that’s great because it just gives me another chance to plan a way to make your first time meaningful. Ok?

Emily’s heart swelled and she rushed to respond.

Emily: What did I do to deserve you? That sounds perfect. You’re the sweetest.

Kelley: Aw you’re making me blush!

Emily: Well it’s all true :D I’ll see you at practice later! Try not to think of me too much while you finish your class ;)

Kelley sent back the kissy face emoji and Emily shook her head, clearing her brain after that whirlwind. Time to get ready for the day!

………………………

Kelley and Alex were waiting in Reba to take Moe and Em to practice. The car was almost shaking from the sounds of Destiny’s Child blasting inside. Emily and Moe giggled as they saw Alex and Kelley serenading each other to Bootylicious when they climbed into the car. When the song ended, Emily leaned forward from the back seat and pecked Kelley on the cheek. She whispered in her ear teasingly.

“You think you’re ready for this jelly, Kelley?”

Kelley turned back to Emily with darkened eyes and a low voice.

“Em I don’t think you wanna joke with me after this morning…”

Alex piped up from the passenger seat gleefully.

“Oooooo what happened this morning?!?”

Emily’s entire body turned crimson as she tried to think of something to say. Luckily Kelley was much more suave and quick.

“Oh just Emily forgot about plans we had made and left me hanging. She owes me one for this morning for sure.”

Kelley winked at the end of her sentence towards Emily, increasing the blonde’s blush factor. Alex and Moe shared a knowing look. They weren’t buying Kelley’s story, but they let it go. Throughout the drive though, Kelley kept looking back at Emily like she couldn’t keep her attention anywhere but on her. Alex noticed and chuckled silently. She pulled out her phone and turned the screen away from Kelley. Suddenly Emily’s phone buzzed and the jittery girl jumped in her seat.

Alex: Follow my lead when we get to practice. I’m gonna play a prank on Kelley. All you need to do is call Kelley over and say you have something in your eye and she needs to come look. Just keep pointing and get her attention ok? She’s totally the smitten kitten today and I’m gonna call her on it ;) 

Emily sent the thumbs up emoji back and the gals pulled into their parking spot at the field. They walked up to the rest of their teammates, exchanging hellos and hugs. Tobin smacked Emily on the back and started to ask her about some foodie place she’d seen downtown and had Emily ever tried an ube donut when Emily shushed her and said she had to help Alex with a prank. Tobin nodded understandingly, having been at the beck and call of Alex before and she scooted over towards Allie to talk to her instead.

Emily laced up her cleats and stretched a bit until she felt eyes on her. Alex was staring at her nodding her head subtly in Kelley’s direction. Emily got the point and cleared her throat before calling out to Kelley.

“Kel? Can you come over here? I have something in my eye.”

Kelley jumped up and jogged over quickly. Looking carefully at Emily’s face.

“I don’t see anything. Which eye is it?

Emily stammered, but she saw Alex stealthily creeping up behind Kelley and held her cool.

“Um the right one, just keep looking, I think it’s an eyelash.”

Alex got down on all fours behind Kelley and made eye contact with Emily and made a pushing motion and pointing to Kelley. Emily smiled realizing that Alex wanted her to table top the freckled defender. She reached out like she was going to grab Kelley by the shoulders and then with a devilish grin pushed the smaller girl backwards onto Alex’s back.

Kelley tumbled head over heels as the team laughed and Morgan filmed the whole thing. Emily hadn’t even known Moe was in on it! Alex sure was a sneaky little devil. Emily had been enjoying the reactions of her teammates and hadn’t noticed Kelley had brushed herself off and was looking at her with a mischievous stare.

“Oh you are so gonna get it!” 

Kelley lunged towards the blonde and Emily shrieked and took off sprinting. The two raced around the field to the whoops and hollars of the gals until Kelley finally caught up (damn her unstoppable stamina) and tackled Emily to the ground. She pinned her there and the two panted heavily from their exertions. Kelley stared down at Emily, a mixture of awe and annoyance on her face.

“You’re lucky you’re so cute.”

She pinched Emily’s cheek and then pecked her on the nose before pulling her up and wrapping her arm around her as they walked back to their teammates. Emily was warm from running and happiness as she glanced over at Kelley who had started talking to Becky. This was her life and it was so awesome. As Kelley absentmindedly played with Emily’s ponytail during her conversation Emily smiled. She definitely could not wait for Saturday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gimme your thoughts please! Also, I'd love to know if you all have cute first time stories/ideas for them. Feel free to share your own experiences. No promises on including anything cause I have some stuff in the works already, but if you experienced like the ultimate cute, romantic thing I probs won't be able to resist lol.
> 
> I'm gonna be traveling a bunch and my parents will be visiting me as well in the next weekish, so I'm not sure when the next update will be. Sorry if there's a delay!


	17. Chapter 17 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi friends! Thanks for your patience, I always appreciate it. Not much to say about this chapter because I don't wanna spoil it :D I know it's kinda short, but short is better than nothing right? Ignore any typos, I started PT, so I'm doing better with my arm, but still a little clunky haha.

Emily was getting ready for class on Thursday morning and chatting with Moe before they headed to breakfast when she realized she forgot to email herself an assignment to print at the library. Hurrying to her computer and quickly sending the paper, she scrolled through her inbox and noticed an email from her sister. Emily turned to her roommate while she closed the laptop and threw it into her backpack.

“My sister never emails me, usually she texts. Do you mind if I call her while we walk?”

“No problem!”

Emily pulled out her phone and held it on speaker while Morgan locked their room. Emma picked up after a few rings.

“Twinkie! What’s up?”

Emily smiled. She really should be better at keeping in touch with her sister and it was good to hear her voice. She mentally scolded herself for not calling her family more often.

“I just saw you emailed me and I didn’t have a chance to read it yet, but I wanted to make sure nothing was wrong!”

“Oh! No everything’s great, I just didn’t want to type out a super long message by text. Basically the gist of it was, I’m coming to visit you tomorrow! That leadership conference I was going to in Houston was cancelled and I had a flight credit, so I bought a ticket to come see my best sister!!!”

Emily’s heart dropped and she tried to keep her tone an excited one when she responded.

“Oh my gosh! That’s great! When do you get here?"

“I land around 3 and I’ll just Lyft over to you. I can’t wait to see you and to meet all of your amazing college friends!”

“Awesome. Well I’m just about to eat breakfast, so just text me to keep me in the loop and I’ll see you tomorrow I guess!”

“Byeeeee!”

Emma chirped her goodbye in a sing song voice and Emily chuckled. Her twin got all the enthusiasm when they were in the womb and she got all the sarcasm. Sometimes it was like they weren’t even related.

“Bye sis.”

Once she hung up, Morgan looked at Emily pointedly for an explanation and Emily sighed. They moved through the food lines and she explained.

“My sister is surprising me with a visit tomorrow, which should be amazing, but this weekend was supposed to be kinda special for me and Kelley and that’ll definitely have to wait. Plus I’m not ready to tell Emma that Kel and I are dating because I want to tell my parents first and that’s not something you do on the phone. So we’re gonna have to lie and I know it’s gonna be a whole big thing because of her past with Ann and now I’m just freaking out!!! Ugh why does my sister have to be so friggin’ thoughtful and care about me and want to see me?!”

Emily’s voice was filled with frustration and angst and Moe laughed pityingly as she patted the blonde on the shoulder.

“Oh Sonny. Always gotta be something going on in your life, huh?”

She shoved the brunette playfully and they continued to chat and eat their breakfast while Emily’s thoughts swirled frenetically in her brain. Once they finished their grub, they parted ways and Emily headed to her first lecture of the day.

When Emily arrived at class, Kelley waved enthusiastically from across the room. Anxiety flashed in Emily’s eyes and she pushed down the jittery feelings as she slid into her seat and snuggled into Kelley’s side for a morning hug. The freckle faced ball of energy kissed her on the head and rubbed circles on her shoulder absentmindedly. Emily sighed internally, knowing she had to break the news to Kelley after class, but wanting to savor this moment of bliss a bit longer.

………………………

Needless to say their conversation did not go well. At first Kelley had totally understood about postponing their Saturday night plans and she was getting excited about being introduced to someone important in Emily’s life. Then shit hit the fan.

“Kelley, I wasn’t just telling you that our date on Saturday had to be rescheduled. When Emma visits, we can’t act like girlfriends… I haven’t told her about us yet. I wanted to tell my parents first and if I tell Emma, there’s no way she’s gonna be able to hold in the news. She’s a huge blabber mouth.”

Emily shuffled awkwardly and Kelley obliviously prattled on, not comprehending Emily’s request.

“Ok, so call your parents and tell them! Then we can tell Emma and have a great weekend while I get to know her and grill her on all the embarrassing things you did as a baby. Does she need someone to pick her up from the airport? What time does her flight get in?”

Emily shook her head and exhaled exasperatedly.

“Whoa hold up there. Kelley it’s not that simple for me. I’m not ready to come out to my parents. It’s something I want to do in person. This isn’t like just calling home and saying I have a boyfriend. I’m pretty sure they’ve never had any inkling that I might like women, shit I never had a clue, so how would they?! I just, I need you to play it cool this weekend ok? Maybe you can come along on a group hangout or something, but I can’t handle more than that.”

Kelley looked at Emily and she could see the anger simmering in her eyes just below the surface.

“You don’t even want me to meet her? Maybe I can come along? Jesus Em, that hurts. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were ashamed of me…”

Emily’s voice was strained and the tension was evident in her face.

“Kelley please don’t make this a big deal. I didn’t say I don’t want you to meet her! You’re twisting my words. I didn’t plan for any of this to happen! Emma just spur of the moment decided to show up and I didn’t have a chance to plan. Of course I’m not ashamed of you, I just need some space this weekend. My sister will know what’s going on if she sees us together. Please Kelley?”

Kelley could hear the pleading in Emily’s voice, but the fiery girl had already given into her emotions and her temper flared. Her voice climbed in volume as she got more worked up.

“Would her figuring out what’s happening between us be such a bad thing?! Fuck, you know how I feel about having to hide.”

“I don’t know if it would be a bad thing, alright??! I haven’t figured this all out yet. Kelley, you know this is new for me. I can’t handle all of this right now!! Why don’t you get this?!”

Emily’s voice rose to an anxious shriek during her outburst, but afterward silence hung thickly between them. Kelley finally broke the tension with a bitter tone. Emily had never seen such a hardened expression on Kelley’s face before and it hurt much more than she’d care to admit.

“Fine Em. You don’t have to worry about handling me. I’ll give you space this weekend. See you at practice Sunday.”

She stalked off, abandoning their lunch plans. Emily called after the fleet-flooted woman, but realized her attempts were futile. Kelley was too angry right now, it wasn’t worth it. Emily muttered to herself, exasperated that she couldn’t seem to get this relationship thing right.

“Well fuck, that couldn’t have gone worse.”

The blonde walked to lunch alone, contemplating her next move in trying to fix this mess.

………………………

Friday morning arrived and things had not settled between Kelley and Emily as neither had given in and spoken to each other. Morgan curiously inquired about KO’s whereabouts on Thursday night when she hadn’t seen her all day, going so far as to try and gauge if Emily’s sister’s visit had come up, but Emily just brushed it off saying Kelley had a big lab report due and that nothing was wrong. She didn’t want to admit to Moe she had messed up. She wanted to fix this on her own! As is often the case though, doing it on her own wasn’t gonna work.

Emily’s focus was not on her classes to say the least on Friday. When they were walking home from Italian, Tobin called out the blonde on her lack of attention.

“Yo, Sonnett. Where you at today? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say there’s trouble in paradise. You look like a girl in distress.”

Emily sighed noisily and flopped down on the grass.

“Is it that obvious?”

The lanky brunette chuckled and found a spot next to Emily on the grass.

“Honestly you’re not the smoothest at hiding your emotions. You checked your phone like 20 times during class and if you look in your notebook, you’ll notice you doodled Kelley’s name all over the margins…”

Tobin had a shit eating grin on her face, pleased at having caught Emily being broody and smitten and the younger girl gaped at her with a mixture of amusement and embarrassment in her eyes.

“Well show me a notebook without Christen’s name in every corner and then you can talk little Miss Whipped over there!”

“Hahahahah that’s fair. But really spill, what’s got you in such a tizzy?”

Emily brushed the hair out of her face and squinted up at the sky, avoiding Tobin’s inquiry for a moment longer. She was rewarded by a poke in the ribs and yelped before answering.

“Ugh fine, no need to jab me with your bony fingers! Kelley and I had a big fight.”

Tobin looked at Emily pointedly.

“And?? I can’t help unless I know what happened.”

Emily blushed with embarrassment. She really didn’t want to admit what they were fighting about. The more she thought about it, the worse she felt about how she had treated Kelley.

“Um well I may have accidentally implied I didn’t want her to meet my sister when she visits today…”

“Whoa hold up, I think I’m missing some info here. Start from the beginning.”

Emily huffed and dove into the sister saga. A few minutes later Tobin was all caught up on yesterday’s drama and she sat back on the grass contemplatively.

“Well I have to ask. Do you still feel the same way you did yesterday? Causes there’s a really easy way to fix this, but if you’re still not ok with Emma knowing you’re in a relationship with Kelley, then the easy way isn’t an option.”

“Honestly, I have no idea. Yesterday was such a shock. I think if I could do it over, I would take it all back. Of course I want Emma to meet Kelley, she’s one of the best things to happen to me since I got here, I just got scared about telling my parents and flipped out.”

Tobin nodded knowingly.

“Sonny, we’ve all been there. Coming out is complicated and brings up lots of emotions. I’m sure Kelley remembers that now and is feeling the same way you are, wishing she could re-do yesterday. Just go find her! She might’ve seemed mad yesterday, but KO’s a forgive and forget kinda girl. She may be stubborn initially, but she can’t hold a grudge very long, she’s too busy finding the fun somewhere.”

Emily put her arm around her tan friend and squeezed.

“Tobs, have I mentioned how awesome you are lately? Cause you’re pretty great.”

Tobin laughed and noogied Emily on the head.

“Don’t mention it, wouldn’t want me to start getting cocky!”

That pair stood up and continued walking back from class chatting until they arrived at Emily’s dorm. Tobs dropped her off and shouted good luck and Emily ran up the stairs straight to Kelley’s room, hoping to get to her before Emma arrived on campus. She knocked on Kelley’s door and bounced on her toes anxiously, wanting more than anything to resolve their squabble.

When she didn’t get a response, she pulled out her phone and called Kelley’s cell, wondering where she might find her on a Friday afternoon. As soon as she dialed, she heard the distinctive ring of “Walking on Sunshine”, which Kelley had sweetly told her she had picked because Emily was “her sunshine”, from inside the dorm room door. Emily swallowed back tears that were prickling her eyes when she realized Kelley was inside and ignoring her. She turned on her heels and walked swiftly to the stairwell. She hoped Tobin was right and Kelley would indeed forgive and forget.

………………………

“OH MY GOD TWINKIE IS THAT REALLY YOU?!?!”

Emily stifled her laughter as her twin got out of her Lyft with her suitcase and yelled across the street, completely unconcerned at drawing attention to herself. Family time was just what she needed right now. When her sister arrived in front of her, Emily grabbed her in an uncharacteristically tight hug and buried her face in the other blonde’s hair. All of sudden she felt overwhelmed breathing in the familiar scent of the girl who had been her first friend, her most trusted confidante, her womb mate. She sniffed noisily as her emotions bubbled up. Emma held her sister at arm’s length and looked at her curiously.

“Alright chickadee, I know you’re excited to see me, but I think the last time I saw you cry was when we played neighborhood pickup like 5 years ago and Billy cleated you right in the face. What’s wrong?”

“Oh Em, I’ve got so much to tell you.”

The sister pair were perched on Emily’s bed sharing oreos and Emma was thoughtfully listening to her twin’s tale. She didn’t bat an eye when Emily admitted she was dating a girl, in fact she took it like a champ, squealing with delight and asking for all the details and for pictures. Naturally she admonished her in the way that only a sister can for not spilling the dirty deets immediately when it all went down, but she softly squeezed her sister reassuringly to make sure she knew everything was ok. She crossed her heart that she wouldn’t tell their parents and when Emily got to the part about their fight she had some good advice.

“Well why don’t you just text her and tell her how you feel and apologize? Like your friend Tobin said, she seems like she’s a softie at heart, but maybe she just needs a little push to get over the hurt? Invite her to join us for brunch tomorrow! I’d love to meet her. If she snagged you, she’s gotta be pretty special!”

As Emma finished her sentence, Morgan walked into the room accompanied by Lindsey and Rose. The trio were feverish with excitement.

“Oh my gosh Emily did you see the poster for the lip sync competition tomorrow night?!?! It’s 90’s themed and I totally think we could win it. I’m grabbing our sleeping bags and speakers and setting up camp in the practice room in the basement for all of us tonight. We’ll get candy and popcorn and have a jam session coming up with our routine!!!”

Moe squealed out all that information before finally finding her manners and introducing herself to Emma.

“Shoot, I’m sorry, you must be Emily’s sister! I’m Morgan and this is Rose and Lindsey. Did you have a nice flight? Sorry to just barge in and throw that at you. But Emily please??? Can we enter a team??”

Morgan gave Emily her biggest puppy dog eyes and Emily tried to look stern, but couldn’t hold it for long.

“Of course we can, Emma does that sound ok to you? I didn’t really have anything planned for us since your visit was basically a surprise.”

The amiable blonde shrugged happily.

“Whatever y’all want to do is fine with me! I’m just happy to be here.”

The group of girls started chattering excitedly, throwing out song choices and wardrobe options. Rose was convinced she could pull off a Tupac style look and Lindsey sternly informed her that was never gonna happen. The two continued to argue with Rose firmly insisting she had “street cred” and Morgan laughing maniacally at the two of them. As Emily watched the madness unfold, Emma leaned into her side and whispered in her ear.

“Get your girl back! Write that text lady. Don’t make me do it for you.”

“Ok! Ok! Let me be, I’ll do it.”

Emily pulled out her phone and started to type. The rest of the room was blissfully unware of her drama and she liked it that way. When she finished the message, she did a once over to double check.

Emily: Hey Kel. I wanted to say sorry for yesterday. It was insensitive of me to not ask about your feelings and to just tell you I wasn’t ready for you to hang out with my sister. I wish we hadn’t yelled. I want our relationship to be two ways and to hear you out. I had a chat with Tobin and ended up realizing I was letting my fear get the best of me. I told Emma about us and she can’t wait to meet you. Tonight we’re doing a slumber party thing in the basement to practice for a lip sync show (don’t even ask), but we’d love for you to join us for brunch tomorrow. I hope you’re not still mad at me and that we can see you. Let me know a time and place if you’re up for it.

Satisfied with her response, she pressed send and pocketed her phone, turning to her sister with a grin. She was ready to get her groove on with her pals!

………………………

Many hours and scores of embarrassing dance moves later (some of which may have been recorded for blackmail material at a later date), the freshmen were slowly coming down from their sugar highs. They were all laying in their sleeping bags, softly whispering to one another before actually going to sleep. Lindsey was telling a story about a family trip to France when Emily felt her phone buzz. She stealthily kept the screen inside her sleeping bag and opened the text.

Kelley: I left my phone in my room by accident since this afternoon when Alex and I went to the mall. We ended up doing dinner and movies, so I just saw this. I’m sorry too. I should’ve been more understanding. Coming out is personal and difficult. I didn’t mean to push you before you were ready. I hope you know that. I would love to go to brunch with you and Emma. We can pick a place in the morning. Can Chester and I come downstairs and join the slumber party? I want to see you before I go to sleep and he misses you terribly.  


Emily smiled in the dark, relief flooding her body.

Emily: Yes! Come down and bring your fluffy pillow. This floor is really hard lol.

About 10 minutes later, the door creaked open and Emily could see Kelley’s silhouette and she shivered slightly. The older girl padded softly across the room and murmured hello to all the girls, but everyone had fallen asleep after Lindsey’s story. Kelley reached down the push Emily’s hair behind her ear and kept her hand cupped there as she gently kissed her, just grazing her lips. Silently she set up her sleeping bag, and Emily offered her the zipper to zip hers onto her own. Nestled in their cocoon, the two fell into the now familiar pattern of Kelley as big spoon and Emily enjoying the tickly spurts of breath on her neck. Just before she drifted off to dreamland herself, she heard Kelley whisper.

“Sweet dreams my sunshine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok first of all the whole time I was writing this, I kept thinking what kind of monsters name their twin daughters Emma and Emily!? Like those are basically the same names... Lol.
> 
> Second of all, what did you think? I'm not super happy with how this one turned out, but I wanted to get a chapter up for you all since it's been over a week. Do any of you ever have ideas that you just can't get out on paper the way you want them? *Sigh*
> 
> It's probably gonna be at least a week until another one since I have a busy weekend and then I leave for Portland on Monday! I'm gonna see KO kill it at the Chicago/Sky Blue game on Sunday and then I see dear Sonny and so many more at the Portland/FCKC game on Wednesday. Needless to say it's gonna be an epic soccer time in my life haha.


	18. Chapter 18 - What do you Think?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy almost birthday America! Here's a present to celebrate. If you're not a 4th of July person, take it as a Monday present haha. Per usual, sorry if there are typos and such.
> 
> Also can I just say that it warms my heart to see the little So'Hara themed aliases you all come up with in the comments? Thanks Anons for your love lol. I thoroughly enjoy your thoughts :D

When you wake up to the smell of Rose’s pale, bony, sweaty from dancing feet in your face, you’d think it would be a sign it’s gonna be a bad morning, but having a jetpack of a girlfriend tethered to your back and breathing snuffly, cute sleepy breaths in your ear sort of counteracts everything else. Emily wriggled away from the stinky culprits near her cheek and pressed her own cold feet into Kelley’s warm calves, starting to blink the sleep out of her eyes. She heard a small yelp as Kelley woke up suddenly due to the icy intrusion of her girlfriend’s toes. Emily softly giggled and she heard a quiet sigh before feeling a pair of lips at the nape of her neck kissing her good morning.

“We’ve really gotta get you some socks to wear to bed. I don’t like waking up to little frozen toe-sicles.” Kelley whispered into Emily’s ear.

Emily chuckled again and smiled into the morning. She could hear her sister moving in the room since she’d been in the sleeping bag above her, but Rose, Morgan and Lindsey were still out cold. She froze a bit when it dawned on her that Emma was probably watching them all cozy and she and Kelley hadn’t been properly introduced. She felt the heat of a blush creeping up her neck at the idea of her sister observing the domesticity of the two of them waking up spooning and she sat up to disentangle her limbs from KO’s. She was met with struggles of protest and little grunts of displeasure as the cuddly brunette whispered obliviously.

“Mmmm stop, bring that cute little butt of yours back here.”

Emily brought her head down close to Kelley’s to keep her voice from being overheard.

“Kel I really don’t want to be doing this with my sister watching ok? It’s just weird for me, especially since you two haven’t met yet. Can you please sit up and play nice?”

Kelley’s eyes widened with understanding and the two of them sat up, trying to look innocent. Emily pantomimed to her sister that the three of them should go out into the hall so as not to wake the 3 stooges and Emma nodded, gathering her stuff and tiptoeing out of the practice room. Emily shuffled on her feet awkwardly as she tried to think of how to introduce two really important people in her life, when she was saved by Kelley’s ingrained southern hospitality and natural charisma.

“Well you must be the famous Emma, the other, more charming member of the Sonnett duo! It’s so nice to meet you, Emily has told me nothing but good things. I’m Kelley O’Hara.”

She stuck out her hand and Emma grasped it firmly, giving Kelley an obvious once over. Dressed in her now notorious squirrel pajamas, with faint pillow lines on her face and massive bedhead, Emily knew her girlfriend was giving quite the first impression and she groaned inwardly at not thinking through their little unplanned sleepover last night. Luckily, Emma was a lot more gracious than her twin (thanks Mom for teaching one of us manners thought Emily) and she smiled widely, returning Kelley’s greeting and pulling their handshake into a hug.

“I’m so glad to meet you! Sorry, I’m a hugger I hope that’s ok.”

Kelley’s grin matched Emma’s and she glanced over at Emily with a bit of surprise in her eyes and she responded happily.

“It’s more than ok. Emily can tell you, I’m all about the hug life.”

The two started to chatter away, planning brunch and talking up a storm. Emily thanked her lucky stars that her sister was a morning person as she tried to power her brain into active mode, plodding along behind the two balls of energy up the stairs to her room.

………………………

Brunch had gone off without a hitch. Truly though, what could go wrong with the promise of excellent pancakes and bacon? Everyone knows breakfast food exists solely to make people happy. Emily happily munched her food and listened to the two swap stories about high school soccer drama. As they ate, Emily occasionally interjected a sarcastic barb or two and Kelley absentmindedly played with the loop of Emily’s bracelet or squeezed her knee gently, unable to keep her hands to herself.

Kelley and Emma seemed to be thicker than thieves already and Emily felt her heart swell with gratitude. The two had even ganged up on Emily to tease her about her gravely morning voice. Indignant in her insistence that she did not have a raspy morning voice, Kelley had responded with a comment about it being sexy and a wink and Emily thought she might melt into the wall with embarrassment when Emma clapped in delight at their flirty banter. 

The rest of the day had flown by as the trio explored campus. Eventually they dropped Kelley at her room, the aforementioned hugs happily exchanged, and they joined the other freshmen for dinner and the lip sync competition they had so diligently prepared for the night before. To no one’s surprise other than Lindsey, whose stage mom persona emerged at the injustice of it all, they didn’t win. They had a blast nonetheless. It turned out that the soccer house had found out about the competition as well and Crystal had basically stolen the whole competition with the routine she choreographed to “Baby One More Time.” There was no way to compete with that! These were the types of memories that all those people harped about when they said college was the best time of your life and Emily was overcome with thankfulness for all the moments she got to share with these amazing people.

After their exhausting day, finally they camped out in their tiny dorm room lounging across Emily’s bed and munching on sour patch kids. Morgan had considerately decided to shower and give the two sisters a few moments of peace. Listening to the sounds of chewing and sighing, Emily looked at her twin expectantly as if she should have already used her twin connection to know what she was thinking.

“So? Are you finally gonna tell me what you think of Kelley? I’ve been dying all day to ask you!!!”

She playfully smacked Emma on the shoulder and held her breath as she waited for an answer. She was pretty sure today had been a home run, but you could never be certain. Emma stared back at her twin incredulously.

“Are you really asking me that? Obviously she’s great! Even if she wasn’t awesome, I would’ve tried to like her because she’s important to you, but I didn’t have to pretend at all. Emily, don’t worry, you have good taste. She’s completely smitten, you can see it from a mile away, she’s crazy funny, and any girl who knows I’m the better twin is all right in my book! Plus even I can tell how hot she is.”

Emma smirked across the bed as her blonde counterpart’s mouth hung open.

“Um setting aside that hot comment for a moment because duh she’s hot, but EXCUSE YOU, you are NOT the better twin. I’m a freaking catch!”

Emily reached across the bed and started to tickle her sister into submission and the tickle fight devolved into a fit of screams and giggles. Moe walked into the room in her towel and shook her head at the ridiculous girls in front of her and the twins sheepishly stopped their antics. Panting and laughing the pair got ready for bed. Emily had courteously offered her bed to her sister and took her place on the floor for the 2nd night in a row. If she was being honest, she desperately wanted to ditch and go snuggle in Kelley’s bed just for the mattress factor alone. She pulled out her phone in the dark of their dorm room and started typing.

Emily: Do you think I’d be an awful sister if I came up and slept in your room tonight?

Kelley: Awwww you miss me huh?

Emily: Well yeah, but my back misses sleeping in a bed even more ;)

Kelley: Ouch, just using me for my comfy bed. I see where your loyalties lie.

Emily: I can come kiss the hurt better!!!

Kelley: Oh stop trying to get into my bed instead of into my pants chica. I’m onto you.

Emily: Sigh fine. I should stay with Emma anyway. You’re still able to drive her to the airport right?

Kelley: Of course! She’s awesome, happy to do it.

Emily: Speaking of awesome, you were quite the hit with my sister. She may like you more than she likes me…

Kelley: Um I’m incredibly likeable, I’m not surprised ;) 

Emily: Ugh I shouldn’t have told you. Now your head’s gonna be even bigger than normal!

Kelley: You love my head at every size :D :D :D

Emily: Go to sleep doofus. Sleep off that swelled ego.

Kelley: Nighty night!

In the dimness of her dorm room, Emily smiled before snuggling as comfy as was physically possible on her floor. Who knew Emma’s surprise visit would be such a success after all!

………………………

Sitting in the passenger seat with Kelley’s hand tracing patterns on her knee and the wind in her hair might be Emily’s favorite feeling. They had just dropped Emma off at the airport and were on their way back to campus to go to practice. The morning had been a lazy one of sleeping in, Sunday dining commons breakfast, and some pick up ultimate Frisbee when Tobin and Christen dropped by unexpectedly. When Emma got out of the car to walk to her gate, she had squeezed both her sister and her girlfriend incredibly tight and whispered in Emily’s ear.

“She’s a keeper Em. Mom and Dad are gonna love her.”

Feeling a little sad to see her sister go, but happy the visit had gone so well, Emily went over her sister’s departing words in her head as Kelley jammed to the radio as they pulled onto the highway. The little drumming vibrations from Kelley’s fingers that made their way all up her thigh made her shiver a bit as she contemplated. She cleared her throat after her pondering.

“Kel, I never asked you. Did you tell your family about me?”

Kelley glanced over quickly with a little anxiety in her eyes before continuing to focus on the road ahead.

“I’m not sure how you’re gonna take this.”

“Just spit it out Kelley, you’re making me nervous!”

Kelley’s grip tightened on the steering wheel.

“Well it’s all a bit different for me since I’ve been out to my family for awhile. I told Erin about you the minute I met you in the hallway that first day.”

Kelley’s face darkened to a ruby red from her adorable admission and Emily’s eyes crinkled in the corners as she comprehended just how fast Kelley had fallen for her.

“You liked me that first day?! Damn you are so whipped Kel!”

Kelley swatted at Emily’s thigh good-naturedly while she drove.

“Shut up you know you liked me then too! You were just a lot less sure of it than I was. Anyway I had to tell Erin I’d met the cutest, clumsiest girl I’d ever seen, so yeah she’s known about you for awhile… Honestly I had to stop her from friending you on facebook and following you on Instagram because she’s a little bit obsessed. It would be cute if she weren’t such a weirdo sometimes. Oh and Jerry is oblivious. I mentioned you the other day and he just grunted in that teenage boy way.”  
Both girls laughed and sat in companionable silence as they kept driving. Emily kept prying though.

“And your parents?”

Kelley looked at her curiously out of the corner of her eye.

“Well when I asked you to be my girlfriend I called and told them I was dating someone new. They were excited about it, especially when I told them you’re from Georgia. Why are you so inquisitive all of a sudden?”

“I’m only asking cause Emma told me that our parents are gonna love you and it kinda threw me for a loop. Like do you think she was telling me I need to talk to them sooner rather than later or should I wait til Thanksgiving when I see them next so I can tell them in person? I mean we could even meet them over Thanksgiving since we’ll both be home for the holiday, but that’s like a million years away. Should I just call them? It feels like I’m lying to them the longer I go without letting them know what’s happening in my life.”

“Slow your roll Em, did you just invite me to meet your parents over Thanksgiving in that little stream of consciousness there?”

Emily’s eyes grew large.

“Whoa I think I did.”

Kelley’s smile could have been seen from outer space. She reached for Emily’s left hand with her right and brought the pale girl’s knuckles to her lips. She kissed them softly while still maneuvering the car along the road.

“I don’t want to tell you how to come out to your parents, I already messed up in that arena this week. I will say that if your offer for Thanksgiving still stands, I’d be thrilled to meet the Sonnett parentals. We’ll take this one day at a time babe. I just got introduced to your sister this weekend. We’ll put that as a check in the win column ok?”

Emily nodded in agreement and leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes to relax as they continued to drive.

When they arrived at practice and grabbed their gear from the trunk, everyone was already in a circle stretching and warming up. Becky called out to them to get their butts in gear and they jogged over to join the huddle. Kelley chirped out an apology as they hurriedly arrived.

“Sorry, sorry, we had to drop off Emily’s sister at the airport.”

A chorus of Oooooooo’s rose from their teammates and both of them blushed as they stretched. Luckily Becky saved them from any harassment with an announcement.

“Now that we’re all here, I wanted to formally announce our fall date party next weekend! We’re gonna do a hoe down at the Patterson’s fruit farm with hay rides and BBQ and s’mores, the whole shebang. Feel free to bring a romantic date or a friend, whoever you want. Just dress on theme and bring your dancing boots and all will be well.”

Emily turned to Kelley and whispered in her ear.

“I think we found the perfect date night to reschedule our plans for yesterday…”

She pinched Kelley’s butt and the freckled brunette squeaked, but her eyes were full of lust thinking about the weekend to come. As one would expect, both players were pretty full of fire during the ensuing practice. Each getting a wolf whistle or two from impressive tackles or bursts of speed. When they got home for the night and finally attended to the homework they’d neglected all weekend, the wheels in Emily’s head couldn’t stop turning as she tried to think of a way to surprise Kelley on their special Saturday.

………………………

When Becky said dress on theme, she hadn’t been kidding. Emily didn't know why this surprised her as the team didn't do anything half-assed ever, but the intensity was a marvel to behold. All week the team group chat had been pinging basically non-stop as different girls went to thrift stores and scrounged friends’ closets for the best cowgirl gear. Emily’s personal favorite was when Ali had sent a message with a very cranky looking Ashlyn. She was dressed in a pioneer woman style dress, bonnet and all and had the look of a prisoner being held hostage. It made Emily chuckle at how far the keeper was willing to go to make her woman happy. Inspired by the effort of her peers, Emily found belt buckles that said “What in Tarnation” on them at Goodwill and held on to them to surprise Kelley for them to wear with their matching flannels, hats, and cowboy boots. It was the first of a few surprises she had up her sleeve (with the help of a few in the know friends) for their special night.

Because of the anticipation for the weekend and the fact that they were getting deeper into the school year, the whole week was over in a flash. Classes got more intense, time in the library and the lab increased, the air got crisper and the sun set earlier each night. Morgan seemed to thrive on the craziness of the week, waking up by choice early to get a jump on assignments, while Emily just looked on in awe each morning. It became harder and harder to leave Kelley’s bed in the evening after they’d snuggle and make out breathlessly, but Kelley held firm that she wanted them to wait until Saturday. By the time Friday rolled around, it really felt like autumn with a few crunchy leaves on the ground to prove it. The team chat was frantic with excitement at their perfect fall themed date party the next night.

At the same time that she was tingling with excitement for her and Kelley’s “afterparty” as she called it in her head, she was also still super nervous. After thinking hard about it, Emily decided she needed some advice. She wasn’t sure Tobin or even Ali were the right people this time around. After Italian class, in which Tobs had adorably mistaken the word for spider (ragno) for the word for kingdom (regno) and kept talking about ruling over her spiders instead of her kingdom, Emily texted Alex to see if she would meet her to chat. She was the most confident person she knew! If anyone had sexy times words of wisdom, it would be her.

Emily: Hey! Hope you’re having a great Friday. I was wondering if we could grab a coffee or something in the next half hour. You around?

Emily’s phone buzzed quickly and she silently thanked the phone gods that Alex’s iphone was basically like a 3rd appendage.

Alex: Sure Sonny! I’m actually using Serv’s car to run to the mall to try to find some bandanas for tomorrow. Can I swing by and get you?

Emily: Sure, I’ll be in front of my dorm :)

A few minutes later the two were in the car (a fratty looking sedan that could only belong to a college age male) on their way to run Alex’s errands. Emily broached the reason for her chat carefully, clearing her throat anxiously and wiping her sweaty palms on her pants.

“Alex, you’ve known Kelley for a long time now. Has she ever talked to you about sex? I can’t believe I’m even telling you this, but we’re planning on our first time being tomorrow night and I wondered if you had any advice. I know you don’t know the like girl on girl stuff, but you probably have good relationship advice since you and Serv are so happy. Plus you pull off that effortlessly sexy vibe better than anyone I know and I need to channel some of that.”

Alex coughed a little as she held in her laughter at being called effortlessly sexy, but she made sure to keep her face serious, knowing how hard it was to come to anyone for advice about something so personal.

“Hmmmm, she hasn’t really told me anything over the last year since it’s been a bit of a dry spell for her, but I know she said she hated it when Ann wouldn’t actually tell her what she wanted, so I’d say be vocal? I’m sure tomorrow will be really special, but you know Sonnett you don’t need to try to be sexy right? Kelley adores you, it’s disgusting when she can’t stop talking about how hot you are, trust me. Buttttt it doesn’t hurt to have a piece of lingerie that makes you feel like you could rule the world. I think we could make another stop at the mall, how’s about it? Put on a little fashion show for Kelley tomorrow night?”

The brilliant, but scary brunette had a devilish glint in her eye and Emily nodded mutely in agreement. She knew she’d picked just the right person! She’d be more than ready for tomorrow at this rate.

………………………

After Alex and Emily’s little dirty shopping spree, which brought the two of them closer than might have been necessary after Emily learned what colors Alex looked best in from first hand viewing experience, Emily had a quiet evening in with Moe. The two were desperate to get some rest after the hectic week and they attempted to watch a movie. They ended up falling asleep halfway through, fully reaching grandma status. But honestly, Emily was glad she fell asleep because it meant the day she’d been looking forward to all week arrived even faster. She woke up to the sweetest, yet funniest text from Kelley.

Kelley: Morning babe. So excited to see you today. Gonna romance the hell out of you at this hoe down. You’ll never see it coming :D

Emily: Can’t wait! Pretty sure I’ve got some tricks you won’t see coming too ;)

The two didn’t have time to dwell on sappy romantic or fun sexy stuff though because Saturday was all about the party. The team was pregaming at the soccer house in the afternoon and Crystal had offered up her hair braiding expertise to give everyone the best cowgirl pigtail braids. Kelley and Emily had arrived in their belt buckled, matching boots glory and immediately been swarmed to join the homemade hoedown photo booth. Ali fussed over their matching blue button downs and cream colored boots and hats, declaring them the CUTEST THING EVER. All of a sudden in a flurry of flannel and country music, the afternoon pregame was over before it felt like it had even started. It was evening and time to get on their bus! Date party was underway!

The yellow school bus pulled up to the farm and cheers rang out from the gaggle of girls and their dates inside. They all piled out of the vehicle excitedly, racing towards their respective interests. Allie and Bati leading the charge towards the mulled hard cider, Syd and Dom not far behind them. Pinoe had already named herself the hoe down announcer and was relishing her access to the microphone at the front of the barn, cracking jokes and rating each teammates’ themed attire. She herself had gone the non-traditional route and had found a horse onesie and was offering rides to anyone who would walk by. Moe, Lindsey, and Rose had decided to go stag and just enjoy each other’s company and they were figuring out some way to do the do-si-do as a trio and laughing maniacally. JJ and Crystal, ever the dynamic duo had corralled their boyfriends into hayrides, squealing with delight at the horses and relishing the opportunity to enjoy the crisp night air. Tobin and Christen had disappeared and Emily suspected Christen had dragged her girlfriend to go coo at the cows and pet them like big, mooing dogs. Emily chuckled to herself and made a mental note to tease those two when they came back smelling like cow turds.

The more serious couples, Ali and Ash, Alex and Serv, Becky and her boyfriend who Emily hadn’t met yet, and HAO and Dave were gathered around the bonfire snuggled under blankets and chatting comfortably. Alyssa, solid and dependable as ever, was the only teammate who made the smart choice to eat some food after the alcohol had been flowing all afternoon. She found the BBQ buffet, grabbing a plate and moving to sit with the couples around the fire. Emily and Kelley gazed around a bit overwhelmed at the smorgasbord of opportunities that were available to them and Kelley turned to look at Emily with her patented full face grin.

“Alright Sonnett, you ready to be wooed?”

“O’Hara, I was born ready.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright I tried, I really did. I wanted to get to the sexy times this chapter, but I just got tired of looking at the page and just wanted to post something for you. Traveling has been crazy (lots of great soccer though) and writing time is sparse. Do you all forgive me? 
> 
> Get at me with your comments and make my day.


	19. Chapter 19 - First Time Butterflies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!!! Start your weekend off right with our favorite squirrel and goofball pair.
> 
> 1\. If you haven't gone and listened to LANY's new album, do yourself a favor and make it happen! It's definitely the warm fuzzies that I feel like you should listen to during this chapter.  
> 2\. I changed the rating to Explicit. I feel like this is self-explanatory haha. People don't read this at work! Just don't do it. I won't be held responsible for the consequences if you ignore my warning :P  
> 3\. I'm really excited about this one and hope you are too.  
> 4\. I just like lists. I don't have a 4 lol.

“I swear, the stars are extra sparkly tonight. It’s like they knew we’d be looking at them and they decided to put on a show!”

Emily smiled over at Kelley and marveled at her childlike wonder. At the moment, it was perhaps a bit influenced by the copious amounts of rum that Ashlyn had put in the cider, but genuine nonetheless. Her eyes were a brilliant gold color in the moonlight and shone even brighter than the stars she was so happy about. Their cowboy hats were long forgotten inside the barn and Kelley’s hair was wild from taking out her pigtail braids, framing her face with curly tendrils. Emily reached her hand out from its warm blanket cocoon and traced along the radiant girl’s jawline, pulling her in for a slow, languid kiss. There was no one around to watch them and Emily was taking advantage of the romantic moment.

Earlier in the night, true to her word, Kelley’s wooing had knocked Emily’s socks off. Once they decided their first step should be to grab some grub, she got Emily’s food with a bow and a flourish.

“I don’t want you to lift a finger tonight m’lady! Your wish is my command!” she declared and Emily snickered at her absurd, but sweet girlfriend and her typical antics.

They ate and gossiped around the bonfire, Ali entertaining them with her tales about her time in Germany over the summer. Always surprising everyone, Kelley was an expert in square dancing having taken a Sunday school class in her childhood. Kelley patiently taught Emily how to square dance and used every opportunity possible to put her hands on Emily’s waist. Kelley’s lessons looked so fun that others started to join them (much to the chagrin of Tobin who was tricked into taking part of the festivities once Christen saw how much they were all enjoying themselves.) The joke was on CP though because it was safe to say that Christen regretted her decision after being stepped on so many times that she was gonna have a tough time shooting the ball at practice on Sunday. Kelley on the other hand was in her element with the square dancing, hamming it up and yeehawing gleefully, ignoring Pinoe’s shouts and directions and calling out dance moves on her own.

Once the playlist switched from square dance jams to classic dixie chicks and they got tired of Pinoe fruitlessly barking orders at them, the team gathered around for dessert and Kelley made the best s’mores Emily had ever tasted. The perfect golden brown roasted marshmallow and melty chocolate that only comes from absolute patience and attention. Emily had never been able to master it, always burning her marshmallow to a black crisp in her haste to get to the gooey treat.

“Oh my god.” Emily moaned in what could only be considered an obscene way. It was thoroughly unfair to make a sound like that in polite company when nothing could be done about it and Kelley’s eyes darkened at the utterance, so similar to the noises she hoped to elicit later in the evening.

With hooded lids, she licked the sticky marshmallow remnants off Emily’s fingers, sending tingles down her spine. Syd wolf whistled from across the bonfire and the team chuckled in response, but Kelley and Emily didn’t even notice. While they were both enjoying the company of their teammates, it was almost like no one else was even there at all. And later it really was just the two of them.

The piece de resistance of the evening was that Kelley charmed the hay ride driver into taking them for a jaunt all by themselves (Ashlyn flipped the bird to Kelley when she saw they had hijacked the romantic activity). Kelley laughed guiltily and mouthed sorry to the tall keeper, but she squeezed Emily and whooped in triumph nonetheless. The pair snuggled under their blankets, taking up two entire bales of hay to lay back and stare up at the sky. Kelley turned on the new LANY album from her phone and the soft music mixed with the chirping of crickets and other nature noises made their idyllic setting even more romantic. The older girl pointed out constellations, showcasing her vast knowledge of nature and the world and they held hands, each brushing their thumbs across the other’s palm absentmindedly. Which was how they arrived at Kelley’s sparkly star realization and Emily’s subsequent rush to kiss her.

As their kiss intensified, Kelley’s palm pressed hard against the small of Emily’s back, guiding their hips towards each other and their legs became tangled. Kelley’s lips tasted like sugar and chocolate and her skin smelled smoky from the bonfire. It was all incredibly intoxicating and Emily felt drunk from the sensations. Her hands were beginning to wander up Kelley’s shirt and Kelley’s lips had traveled to Emily’s neck, sucking and biting on her tender skin when their horses whinnied loudly. The two of them startled apart and Kelley rolled off the hay onto the floor of the wagon with a thud. Her legs flailed wildly and she had bits of hay in her hair.

“OH MY GOD!”

Emily was laughing uproariously, tears threatening to spill all over her face. She panted for breath and slapped her knee in delight. She kept trying to explain how funny Kelley looked, but couldn’t get the words out between the spurts of laughter. Kelley stared up at the unapologetic blonde with a scowl, but she couldn’t hold the expression for long. Her face split into a grin as she brushed herself off and sat back next to Emily on the hay.

“I love watching you laugh.”

Kelley’s honest declaration stopped Emily’s remaining giggles short. She tilted her head and looked back at Kelley questioningly.

“Yeah?”

Kelley brushed her hand across Emily’s cheek with affection and responded nonchalantly.

“Yeah! Your nose crinkles and half the time you don’t make a sound at all, just like silent sputtering and the other half your laugh is all throaty. It’s the best.  
Sometimes I do dumb stuff just because I know you’ll laugh at it.”

Emily was speechless, overwhelmed with affection at this new information. Luckily she didn’t get the chance to answer because the driver called back to them as they slowed to a stop.

“Time to go ladies!”

Kelley stood up, wiped the dirt and hay off her pant legs, and smiled with her hand outstretched to help Emily up from the hay bales.

“Madam, thou shalt accompany me back to the bonfire posthaste?”

Emily snorted and stifled a snicker as she took the grinning brunette’s hand.

“See, dumb stuff to make you laugh. It works!” Kelley winked and Emily rolled her eyes affectionately as they walked hand in hand back to the bonfire.

All of the team was gathered around the flickering flames, engaged in various levels of drinking and snacking. Morgan called out to her roommate happily and Emily suspected she may have dipped a bit too much into the mulled cider.

“SONNNYYY come over here please!!! I missed you!”

Emily looked to Kelley to make sure it was ok and Kelley waved her off.

“Em you don’t need to ask me to hang out with your friends. Go sit with Moe! Alex was pestering me earlier about not hanging out with her enough anyway. I’ll be fine.”

The taller girl affectionately ruffled Kelley’s hair, to yelps of protest about “ruining the do’!” and jogged over to her roommate.

“What’s up Moe?”

“Where’d you go Em? We were looking for you! No one believed me when I said you do the best body roll I’ve ever seen. Show Lindseyyyy.”

The tipsy brunette latched onto Emily’s shoulders and pulled on her flannel shirt trying to get her to dance for the rest of their friends. As she did so, she glanced down at Emily’s neck and gasped.

“Holy crap! Emily Ann Sonnett, did you and Kelley do it on the hay ride?!? YOU DAWG! Your neck is like a leopard! I thought we set up our room all nice for everything later???”

Emily shushed Morgan hurriedly and shook her head exasperatedly. She loved Moe, she really did, but her roommate seriously needed to work on her volume and oversharing when she imbibed.

“Moe could you just shut up for like 2 seconds? Please? Kelley and I didn’t have sex on the hay ride, we’re not animals! Plus if you talk about my plans for later any louder, you’re gonna spoil my surprise for her, so just calm your tits woman!”

Emily self-consciously pulled her flannel collar up over her neck to make sure Kelley’s love bites were covered, while Moe clumsily made a shushing motion and giggled.

“Sorry roomie! I won’t spoil anything. I’m gonna go to Lindsey’s room tonight like we planned and be quiet as a mouse the rest of the party. I love you the mostest and want you to be happy!!!”

She planted a sloppy kiss on Emily’s cheek and Emily sighed and slung her arm around the overly affectionate girl. She was a piece of work, but she was her piece of work. Kelley looked at the two of them across the fire with raised eyebrows and an amused glint in her eye and Emily used her free hand to make the “she’s loco” hand motion. Kelley chuckled and turned back to her conversation with Alex, satisfied all was well.

………………………

The date party finally came to an end as the fire became nothing but embers and the team and their dates started to shiver in the late night air. With much less enthusiasm than when they departed, they trudged back onto the bus and drove back to campus. Pinoe tried to keep the party going, awkwardly shout singing Goodbye Earl and running down the aisle of the bus, but she got nailed in the head by Allie’s cowboy boot as a reward and mumbled something about “ damn that crazy eyes Allie” as she sat back down. Not a single couple wasn’t guilty of some major sleepy snuggling on the ride home and a few of the gals were yawning once they got off the bus at the dorms. Kelley was no exception, happily nestled in that sleepy way of hers in Emily’s side in as they walked through the front door of their residence hall. She looked up hopefully at the blonde as they got to the stairwell.

“You’re still cool with staying over tonight?”

“Mhmm! Yes, I just wanna stop by my room first, kay?”

They walked up the stairs and got to Emily and Moe’s doorway. Kelley had failed to notice that Morgan wasn’t headed towards her own room at the end of the evening, completely oblivious to Emily’s plans. Emily turned to Kelley before unlocking the door.

“Could you close your eyes for a minute?”

Kelley eyed Emily skeptically. She’d been on the receiving end of more than one practical joke in her life, you didn’t get through being the middle child or being a part of this soccer team without having your guard up. Plus she knew Emily’s penchant for mischief too well not to be a little concerned.

“Whyyyy?”

Emily sighed and put her hand on her hip.

“I just wanna grab something and I don’t want you to see yet. Do you want me to ruin it? It might be something special just for you…”

That peaked Kelley’s interest quite a bit and she complied cheerfully. She put her hands over her eyes and answered in a sing song tone.

“Ok Sonny! Eyes closed!”

Emily quickly unlocked her door and checked the room to see that everything was as she left it. She grabbed an item from the fridge, placing it in its rightful spot, turned a light switch and walked back to Kelley, pulling her into the room.

“Ok, open them!”

The room was full of twinkle lights strung from one side of the ceiling to the other, giving it an ethereal glow. Emily had envisioned a garden party with little fairies in it when she decorated. The sparkly light was enhanced by the pastel purple, sheer scarves draped in a semi tent over a blow up mattress on the floor. It was made up with pillows and soft blankets, a cozy nest just for two. Two glasses and a bottle of sparkling cider were at the head of the mattress. Emily bit her lip anxiously as Kelley turned around in the room, taking it all in.

“Do you like it?”

Kelley looked at Emily with an awestruck expression.

“You did all this for me? I was gonna make this special for you and you blew me out of the water!”

Emily mumbled softly, a little embarrassed at her over the top romantic gesture.

“Well I mean it’s not just my first time, it’s OUR first time. Like there’s only gonna be one time that we do this together and it’s completely new. I wanted it to be special for you too…”

Kelley crossed the room to wrap Emily in a tight hug, moved by the tender act. No one had ever cared for her like this and it touched her heart. She looked up at the taller girl as she pulled back slightly from their embrace.

“I love it Em. Really. I know you like to act all tough and sarcastic, but you’re all gooey and sappy inside and you can’t hide it!” 

She poked her affectionately at the last sentence and Emily just laughed, pleased and relieved her surprise had been such a hit. She’d been a little worried that Kelley might think it was cheesy, but she should have known the queen of the cheeseballs would like it.

“How did you even pull this off??””

Emily blushed, remembering her sexy shopping trip along with her Target run, and looked down at Kelley.

“Alex helped me out yesterday when we were at the mall and Moe helped me set everything up this morning. It was a team effort. Sorry it’s sparkling cider. Neither Alex or I could buy any alcohol… Next time I’ll have to enlist someone who’s actually 21. Also I may have had to promise Morgan I’d do her laundry for a week to get her to sleep somewhere else tonight, but it was worth it!”

Emily rambled a bit nervously and Kelley’s eyes lit up with mirth.

“Remind me to buy them a meal sometime for their assistance. Damn saints those two, even with the laundry.”

Both girls giggled at the joke and the tension hung thick in the air at the weight of the evening. Kelley cleared her throat.

“Well I had some chocolate covered strawberries in my room for when I thought we were staying the night in there. Why don’t I go get those ok?”

Emily nodded and Kelley kissed her quickly on the lips.

“I’ll be right back!”

Emily watched Kelley walk out the door and her heart thudded in her chest with nervous anticipation. She felt awkward just standing in the room alone, so she decided to make herself useful and opened the sparkling cider, pouring a glass for herself and tasting the bubbly liquid. Bringing the bottle with her, she took off her cowboy boots and perched on the edge of the air mattress, waiting for Kelley to return.

When Kelley walked back into the room, she had removed her flannel and just had on the black tshirt she’d worn underneath. She’d also taken off her boots, electing to walk the stairwell in her socks. Emily stared at her in the doorway and let her eyes wander from Kelley’s head to her toes, appreciating the curve of her ass in her boot cut jeans and the way the black shirt clung to her taut stomach. Her skin got warm as she imagined peeling off both items. She patted the spot next to her on the mattress and Kelley joined her.

“Strawberry?”

Emily nodded and Kelley took the dark chocolate covered fruit out of the box and offered it to Emily to take a bite. When she did, strawberry juice dripped down Kelley’s wrist and Emily grabbed Kelley’s freckled arm and licked the sweet nectar off before it reached her elbow. When she looked back up at Kelley, her expression was dark and full of lust. She abandoned the box of strawberries unceremoniously and purposefully pulled Emily in for a kiss, her hands fisted in Emily’s hair, tongue darting out and tasting the flavor of the fruity treat.

As the two kissed deeply, Kelley guided Emily backwards so she was laying down and Kelley hovered above her. In one smooth motion she pulled off her shirt and Emily’s breath hitched. The sight of Kelley half naked still got to her. She reached up to run her hands down Kelley’s muscular back and Kelley lowered herself onto Emily straddling her and flipping her own hair to one side, to allow Emily to unclasp her bra. After she did so, Emily palmed her small breasts and squeezed and tweaked in the now practiced way that she knew Kelley liked. As Kelley’s nipples hardened, she moaned in appreciation and flung her head back, leaving the skin available for Emily to kiss. A bruise started to bloom on Kelley’s neck as Emily bit and soothed the bites with her tongue and Emily chuckled remembering Morgan’s discovery of her neck earlier.

Kelley mumbled into Emily’s blonde locks.

“What’s so funny?”

Emily reluctantly removed her lips from Kelley’s neck and sat up, close enough to feel Kelley’s slightly quick breath on her face. She grasped Kelley’s ass as she spoke, appreciating how wonderful she felt in her lap.

“Oh nothing, Moe was just being weird earlier when she found the marks you left on my neck.”

Kelley smirked, weirdly proud of her kissing evidence.

“Oh yeah? And you were just leaving one on me huh? You know I did that because I want everyone to know you’re mine. Just marking my territory, you know?”

“You’re such a cavewoman sometimes Kel!”

Kelley’s eyes sparkled as she laughed and shrugged.

“Guilty as charged!”

Wanting to be a bit more comfortable, grudgingly Emily moved Kelley off her lap and rolled over to stand up on the side of the mattress.

“Where are you going??”

Kelley’s eyes were full of concern, afraid she had done something wrong.

“I’m not going anywhere, I just bought something to appeal to those cavewoman sensibilities of yours and I need to stand up to show you. By the way, you should thank Alex for this. She helped me go shopping.”

Kelley’s raised an eyebrow, intrigued and Emily moved to unbutton her pants. She slid out of them to reveal black lace panties that left little to the imagination. She took her flannel off and showed off the matching bra that barely contained her pale breasts. Her taut v of muscles just above the waist band of the black lace made Kelley’s mouth go dry and she licked her lips involuntarily. Emily’s heart rate quickened with adrenaline, pushing her to stand confidently in front of the open mouthed Kelley.

“Jesus Christ. Em you are so unbelievably sexy. I need to fucking buy Alex a car or something if she can get you to wear things like that. Come back here so I can touch you.”

Emily beamed and got back on the bed. She took her opportunity to be a little dominant, not giving in to Kelley’s demand to touch her. As Kelley pouted and protested feebly, wanting to get her hands all over Emily’s skin, Emily pushed her arms back against the air bed, and held them there. She kissed Kelley slow, taking Kelley’s bottom lip between her teeth before sliding her tongue inside her mouth. Kelley whimpered as Emily’s knee pressed between her thighs, the friction not enough with Kelley’s jeans still on. Letting go of Kelley’s arms and allowing the brunette to roam her hands all over her almost naked body, Emily moved with purpose down Kelley’s neck and chest, leaving kisses along the way. Kelley’s nails scratched Emily’s back in an oddly pleasing sensation as she fidgeted under Emily’s mouth on her skin. Taking Kelley’s hardened nipple between her lips, Emily sucked and then bit down hard causing Kelley to hiss with pleasure and pain. She did the same to Kelley’s other breast and continued kissing down her insanely muscular abs, murmuring into her body.

“Kelley have I told you how fucking hot your abs are? Because whenever you wipe your forehead at practice with your shirt hem, I just want to stop what I’m doing and lick the sweat off of you.”

Emily raked her teeth across Kelley’s midsection in hearty appreciation and Kelley just grunted with pleasure, too caught up in the sensations to even giggle at Sonnett getting awestruck by her sweaty body. Emily reached the waist band of Kelley’s jeans and she hovered. As she went to unbutton them, her hands trembled a little, her surge of adrenaline fueled confidence waning in the face crossing a new line. Sensing her hesitation, Kelley sat up, taking Emily’s hands and pulling her to sit up with her. Kelley whispered quietly with an earnest expression, wrinkles forming between her knit eyebrows as she focused on what to say.

“Hey, it’s ok. We don’t have to go fast. We can worry about me later or not at all. Whatever you’re comfortable with. I’m serious Em. We can stop now if you say so.”

Emily stopped Kelley’s rambling, putting a finger up to her lips then gently kissing them.

“Kel I don’t want to stop. I want you so bad it hurts. I’m just nervous. I’ve never done this before and doing something new can be scary. I promise I’ll tell you if I want to stop, just be patient with me if I freak out a little ok?”

Kelley softly laughed.

“Yeah I can do that.”

The older girl looked down and blushed before continuing.

“Can I get you out of that lingerie though? Please? As much as I appreciate the trouble you went to, to pick it out and damn does it look good, I really think it’ll look better on your bedroom floor.”

Emily giggled at the joke and Kelley kept speaking with a low, tender voice.

“I want to take care of you. Would you let me do that?”

Emily nodded and swallowed thickly, as she laid back on the pillows. Kelley reached underneath her to unclasp her bra and gently massaged the creamy skin around her pink buds, following Emily’s urging and using her tongue to tease her nipples into hardened points. She tentatively moved down Emily’s torso, lavishing the tight skin with attention from her tongue and teeth, taking special care to appreciate the exceptionally cut muscles near her hip bones. Lightly grazing her fingers across every inch of skin she could get her hands on. Emily’s hips bucked and her breathing got quicker. As Kelley neared Emily’s underwear, she trailed her fingers along the waist band teasingly, causing Emily to shiver. Kelley looked up to Emily for permission. It would’ve seemed like Kelley was the one with the power in this situation, but she wasn’t going to do anything to Emily without her telling her it was ok. Emily appreciated the concern, but she was done waiting.

“Fuck Kelley, stop teasing already.”

“As you wish!”

Emily lifted her hips and Kelly pulled down the lace past Emily’s ankles and onto the floor. She paused to look down at her girlfriend in reverence. She spoke in an unbelievably soft voice.

“Emily you’re really beautiful.”

Kelley took a beat to savor the moment, barely remembering to breath and Emily stayed quiet, letting Kelley look at her. She never thought she’d be so comfortable with another person’s gaze so unapologetically raking up and down her body, but she felt safe and adored instead of exposed and vulnerable. The warmth in her body was in her heart, but to be fair, there was warmth between her legs too.

Finally coming up from her daze at Emily’s body, Kelley started to kiss up Emily’s thighs and Emily couldn’t stop the tiny moans from the new sensation. Kelley pushed Emily’s thighs further apart to get a better position and hesitantly ran her fingers through Emily’s folds. Kelley breathed in sharply at the slickness.

“Fuck you’re so wet already.”

“Kelley I told you, I fucking want you so bad. You don’t have to be so cautious. I’m here with you because I want to be here.”

Emily’s voice was sultry and full of lust. Kelley’s eyes darkened, fully realizing the depth of Emily’s desire. Ignoring her own throbbing between her legs, she turned her attention to Emily’s glistening center. She licked up Emily’s folds and the blonde gasped loudly, fisting her hand in Kelley’s hair. Kelley’s tongue was far more skillful than could be considered fair and Emily loudly voiced her appreciation. This only spurred Kelley on and she moved to circle Emily’s clit, while sliding one finger inside her, using her other hand to grab Emily’s ass and prop her up for better access.

“God don’t stop. I need more.”

Kelley added another finger, both digits gliding in and out easily as Kelley pumped and curled, trying to find the spot that would make Emily scream her name. Emily’s head was pressed hard against the pillow and her eyes were shut tight. Her hips matched Kelley’s movements as she got closer and closer. Kelley’s tongue hadn’t stopped its circles and she felt Emily’s walls begin to tighten around her fingers.

“I’m so close Kelley!”

Emily’s breath was ragged as she verged on the edge. Kelley’s name was on the tip of her lips when Kelley switched from circling Emily’s clit with her tongue to suck on the sensitive bundle of nerves.

“FUCK yes! Oh god Kelley, that’s it!”

Emily finished loudly and Kelley kept stroking as Emily’s thighs clenched tightly around her. Expletives flew out of the blonde’s mouth as her legs continued to quiver. Kelley lifted her head and wiped her mouth. She pulled her fingers out of Emily’s still trembling center to lick them clean. It was the hottest thing Emily had ever seen, Kelley’s face flushed with exertion, her lips slick and shiny from being between her legs. Kelley’s head was spinning from the heady sensations and how turned on she was in return. She hummed happily.

“Mmmmm god you taste amazing.”

Emily blushed and moved to kiss Kelley in gratitude. She could taste herself on her tongue, which made her squirm as the pressure built a bit between her legs again. As their tongues battled for dominance, Emily reached down the finally unbuckle Kelley’s jeans. Her earlier nerves were all but forgotten. She needed to be inside Kelley and she needed to do it now.

Nipping at Kelley’s jawline and ear, Emily moved away from the freckled girl so Kelley could lift her legs to let Emily get her pants off. Wasting no time, Emily slid her hand down the front of Kelley’s boy shorts, gasping at the warm wetness. Kelley moaned and grinded up against Emily’s hand, desperate for some kind of relief. Emily slid her fingers inside Kelley and pumped, her thumb tracing Kelley’s clit.

“Shit Em. You’re sure you’ve never done this before?”

Emily grinned cheekily and pushed Kelley back on the mattress, removing her hand from Kelley’s underwear. Kelley’s protests were silenced as Emily slid the grey underwear down Kelley’s thighs. Unable to form words at the sight in front of her, Emily gaped at Kelley’s naked body. The glow from the twinkle lights made her look like a Greek goddess, the light bouncing off her skin and exposing her chiseled jaw and body. Kelley looked at her curiously, waiting for Emily’s next move. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Emily vocalized her inner monologue.

“Kel, I swear I didn’t know people could look this gorgeous.”

“Oh stop it.”

“I’m being serious babe. You’re like a Michelangelo. A true masterpiece.”

Trying to show Kelley how gorgeous she truly was, Emily dipped her tongue into Kelley’s wetness, experimenting and getting used to the new sensation. Kelley gulped loudly at the welcome surprise. Emily felt her core pulsing as she listened to Kelley’s gasps of pleasure, realizing that turning Kelley on was one of the best sounds she’d ever experienced. She continued lapping at Kelley’s folds, alternating between long and short strokes. She thrust her tongue deep into Kelley, curling and twisting mimicking what Kelley had done with her fingers earlier.

“Holy fuck, yes, yes!”

Emily cupped Kelley’s sweet ass as she continued to thrust with her tongue, reveling in Kelley’s hands in her hair, pushing her face towards her bucking hips. Kelley’s face glowed and her eyes were squeezed shut in desire. As Emily felt Kelley’s thighs clenching, she knew the older girl was close. She replaced her tongue with her fingers and sucked on Kelley’s clit, feeling Kelley’s walls closing around her long, plunging fingers, which were pushing the swearing woman to the brink. Emily’s name spilled out from Kelley’s lips as she tumbled over the edge and Emily licked up all the wetness from Kelley’s orgasm.

Still breathing heavily, Emily flipped over onto the tangled sheets entirely spent. As the pair caught their breath, Kelley reached to take Emily’s hand in hers. She turned on her side to rest her chin on Emily’s shoulder. Kelley sighed contentedly and she whispered into Emily’s ear and Emily felt the tickly breaths on her neck. 

“That was amazing. Really.”

She kissed Emily’s hair and nuzzled into her side. Emily broke the romantic afterglow with a typical snarky comment.

“Jesus no one told me sex was so sweaty!”

Kelley burst into peals of laughter, always music to Emily’s ears, moving to rub her sweaty cheek against Emily’s and the blonde squealed with pretend disgust. Kelley’s golden eyes glowed and the two laughed into the late night, completely and utterly happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well? Was it worth the wait? I'm a little anxious at the high cheese factor, but I can't control my cheesiness! It just oozes out lol. As always, please comment and tell me what you think. My fragile ego feeds on your approval, so really anything you have to say is welcome haha. I'm a little stuck on what to write next, so your comments will help me become inspired! 
> 
> Advanced apologies if it's a long wait before I update. This one may have to hold you for awhile.
> 
> Am I allowed to think it's adorable that this chapter number is 19 and that's Kelley's number on Sky Blue?
> 
> Little treat, video proof of Sonnett's body roll prowess ;) Also they're just adorable together.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNvL4Et4Dj4
> 
> Last thought I promise. I don't have a tumblr, but I see that a lot of the fic writers do. I'm def not up to getting on myself, but if anyone feels like posting a link to this fic on their page (is that how tumblr works? I'm a grandma when it comes to this stuff lol), I give you permission. The more people to see it, the merrier!


	20. Chapter 20 - You give me Fever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got this one done. Sorry it took so long. I had some writer's block. Hope you like it! I don't know if anyone is even still reading this fic lol.

If the walls of Kelley’s dorm room could talk, they surely would have some pretty raunchy things to say at this point. The past few weeks were a blur of screams of delight (courtesy of a certain freckled goddess) and curses of anguish as midterms came and went. They say practice makes perfect and Kelley must’ve taken that message to heart because they were “practicing” every chance they got. Moe had even joked that she should put a “for rent” sign on their dorm room and make some money on it since Emily was spending so little time in her own bed. The teasing from their teammates was merciless with some of the hickeys the two had carelessly left on each other, but it was totally worth it. Still, it was good timing that it was finally scarf weather!

As Emily walked to class she shivered both from the chilly air and remembering a particularly naughty text from KO the night before. She pulled her fleece tighter around her neck and strolled through the crunchy leaves, taking care to step on the choicest, most satisfying leaves on her way. Hurrying to get out of the crisp breeze, Emily quickly walked into her Psych lecture and looked around the room to see if Kelley had beaten her to their seats that morning. She smiled and silently laughed to herself as she saw her favorite person slouched in a seat dozing, her head lolling back and her mouth adorably wide open. Quietly moving into the seat next to her sleepy girlfriend, Emily pushed the stray pieces of hair that had fallen out of Kelley’s bun behind her ear. Kelley’s eyes blinked open slowly as she felt Emily’s fingers graze her chin and she looked up a bit dazed, but smiled at the blonde next to her. Emily softly greeted her.

“Good morning sleepy head.”

She gently kissed Kelley’s forehead and frowned a bit at the warmth emanating from the freckled face. Kelley nuzzled into Emily’s side and mumbled good morning back, still eager to snuggle as she was not fully awake. Emily looked down at the slight sheen of sweat on Kelley’s skin and noted the shallow breaths the older girl was taking, as if her nose was stuffed up. She gently lifted Kelley’s chin and scrutinized Kelley’s open eyes, which looked a bit bloodshot. Emily sighed.

“Babe, you’re sick. What are you doing in class right now? You should be in bed resting!”

Kelley protested with more vigor than one would think possible considering her health.

“I am not! I’m fine! I don’t get sick! The O’Hara stock all have stellar immune systems. Good genes or something. Plus I have to be healthy for the game on Saturday and the party that night for Ashlyn’s birthday and Halloween! We have a couple’s costume meaning sickness is not allowed. So there.”

Kelley triumphantly looked at Emily after her declaration and Emily just sighed. She knew she didn’t have a chance at swaying the stubborn girl when she got into this kind of mood. She wanted to tell her that fine only has one syllable and that her inability to keep her eyes open said she was anything other than fine, but she smartly kept her mouth shut. She just ruffled her hair and got out her supplies for class, including a tissue pack that she stealthily slid onto Kelley’s desk. She couldn’t convince Kelley to use them, but Kelley’s pride be damned she wasn’t gonna listen to Kelley sniffle grossly all class, so she was gonna try. Emily gave Kelley the side eye as she saw the brunette starting to doze again and she sighed again. This girl was gonna be the death of her.

………………………

Emily and Morgan were quizzing each other for their upcoming quiz in their nutrition class when Emily’s phone rang. Seeing Kelley’s selfie that she had set as her contact photo from that first day they met flash on the screen, Emily set her flashcards down on her desk and picked up the phone.

“Hey Kel, what’s up? Missed you at dinner tonight, we tried to get you, but you didn’t answer your door.”

Emily could barely hear Kelley as she rasped into the phone.

“Em, I don’t feel good.”

Kelley sounded so small and pitiful it was almost comical, but Emily kept her giggles inside knowing how bad Kelley must be feeling if she had sucked it up and called her. Before she could respond, she heard a hacking cough on the other side of the phone. Waiting for the coughing to subside, Emily responded kindly.

“Aw poor baby! I’ll be right up ok? Just hold tight.”

In her illness haze Kelley nodded into the phone instead of answering, but Emily hung up anyway and stood up from her desk. Morgan looked at her quizzically, not having heard Kelley’s side of the conversation.

“Kelley isn’t feeling well, I’m gonna bring her a snack, some advil, and Nyquil. Is it ok if we table the flashcards for now?”

“Of course, go take care of your girl. Studying can wait”

Morgan smiled and Emily chuckled as she gathered her nursing supplies. She padded up the stairs and knocked on Kelley’s door. When Kelley opened it, Emily had to stifle the laughter that bubbled up in her throat. Kelley looked a mess. Her nose was red with a little snot dripping out of it, her cheeks were flushed, her hair was all on top of her head in a not intentionally messy bun, and she was hunched over like standing up took too much effort. In a personal victory for Emily on the kindness scale, she kept her “I told you so” thoughts to herself.

“You were right, I’m sick.”

Kelley spoke in a pathetic little voice as she burrowed into Emily for a hug. Emily stopped herself from cringing at the snot that was bound to be on her tshirt and instead patted the sniffly girl on her back soothingly.

“As much as I love hearing you say I’m right, I’m not happy about it today. Lets get you back into bed k? I brought you a banana, which I’m gonna watch you eat because I’m guessing you haven’t eaten anything since lunch yes?”

Emily eyed Kelley and the girl nodded shamefully and Emily shook her head exasperatedly.

“Ok, so you’re gonna eat this and then take an advil for your fever and this Nyquil for your cough. I’ll email your professors and your PI and tell them you’re not coming in tomorrow and I’ll text Becky to tell her you can’t make practice either.”

All the while during her instructions, Emily had been gently maneuvering Kelley back to her bed and tucking the covers around her. It was quite clear the girl was sick, because the normally feisty woman meekly went along with all of Emily’s manipulating without any protest. After Emily took care of the emails on Kelley’s computer and put a bottle of water next to Kelley’s bed, she moved to leave and go back to her room. Kelley weakly called out to her from her bed.

“Wait, can you just stay with me until I fall asleep?”

“Of course.”

Emily climbed up and wrapped her arm around the shivering girl, stroking her hair and forehead, waiting for the Nyquil to take effect and Kelley’s sleepy even breathing to appear. Kelley kept trying to talk, while fighting the effects of the medicine.

“Thank you for taking care of me Em.”

“Shhhh Kel, you’re welcome, just go to sleep.”

“But you’re the best and I want you to know it.”

Emily giggled. She knew Kelley was getting a little loopy from the cough medicine.

“Ok, well now I know it. Still go to sleep.”

Emily felt Kelley’s breathing get deeper and her head was heavy on her arm. She knew the tired girl had finally succumbed to her need for rest. She traced the ridge of Kelley’s ear, marveling how there could be freckles on every bit of her body, including the very edge of her ear lobe. She ghosted her lips across the heated girl’s forehead, striving not to wake her. As she shifted a bit and jumped off the bed, Kelley rolled over into the vacated space and mumbled ever so softly in her sleep.

“I love you.”

Emily stiffened and stopped her walk towards Kelley’s door. She turned around quietly to make sure Kelley was still asleep. When she saw her eyes completely closed and that she looked like she was definitely off in dreamland, Emily let out an exhale of relief. Kelley surely would not have said those 3 words if she were awake that was for certain. Emily was confident that Kelley was pretty guarded with her whole heart after having it crushed so easily by Ann. If and when Kelley knowingly said I love you to her, it was a gonna be big deal for her, and Emily wasn’t ready to deal with what they meant just yet.

While they’d been dating for about 2 months, it seemed to Emily that was wayyyy too fast for her first relationship to already be at the I love you’s. Or was it? She didn’t know what being in love felt like, so basically she really didn’t have a clue. There wasn’t really a rule or timeline for that kinda thing was there? Did she love Kelley? She certainly had very strong feelings for her. You don’t let just anyone snuggle with you when they’re totally covered in gross germs. Emily’s brain swirled with thoughts as she walked back into her dorm room and flopped on her bed. Morgan looked up and grunted hello, but went back to her studying, oblivious to the storm of emotions and feelings battling in the blonde’s head.

………………………

Kelley spent Wednesday and Thursday in bed recuperating while Emily brought her little snacks and tidbits of information from practice and class to keep her entertained. She also made sure to send cute puppy videos and links to funny buzzfeed articles to make her smile throughout the week. Being sick always brings out differences in people’s personalities and it was a bit amusing to get to know sick Kelley. She was far more whiney, cuddly, and needy than healthy Kelley, which was saying something considering Kelley was a snuggle monster to begin with. Emily didn’t hate the being needed part. Being the younger, less experienced one in their relationship, it was kinda nice to be able to take care of her for once.

It was clear that Kelley had no recollection of her romantic admission from Tuesday night and Emily didn’t intend to bring it up. It was better if they both ignored that one for awhile. The blonde had to admit though, she got a lot of schoolwork done when Kelley was out of commission. Plus she got to spend time with her other friends who she’d been neglecting (Lindsey had been rather vocal in her displeasure at being ignored.) She chastised herself for even thinking that Kelley not being around made life easier, but at the same time she didn’t dislike the feeling of going to bed with all her assignments done for once. And yet there was that part of Emily that was majorly struggling with the fact that she hadn’t properly kissed or touched her girlfriend in days. She definitely needed to figure out the whole dating/life balance thing better.

On Friday, Kelley was finally feeling up to going to class, but not up for anything overly exhausting. Alex came over after a calm dining hall dinner and the three of them watched Friends reruns in Emily’s room, enjoying a quiet evening in before their big Saturday game day and the soccer house birthday/Halloween bash. They were mostly chatting and using the TV as white noise since the three of them had seen every episode more than once in their lives.

“So you two never told me what costumes you’re wearing tomorrow?”

Alex was munching on popcorn, her legs slung over the side of Morgan’s chair. Emily was sitting on the bed cross legged while Kelley was laying across her and taking up the rest of the bed. Kelley piped up in response, her voice a bit muffled from her position of her head in Emily’s lap.

“Not telling! It’s a surprise.”

Alex looked pleadingly at Emily, knowing the young blonde was a sucker for a good pouty face. It was remarkable how many teammates had figured out that Sonnett was an ol’ softie no matter how hard she tried to pretend otherwise.

“C’mon Sonny. Tell meeeee!”

Emily laughed and shook her head.

“You know I would, but this one would never forgive me. I know better than to tempt the wrath of an angry Irish gal.”

Kelley smirked up at Emily, pleased with the blonde’s answer, and Alex sighed.

“Ugh fine, be that way. Can you at least tell me if it’s a couple’s costume? I don’t wanna be the only one at the party who is dressed alike with their boyfriend or girlfriend.”

“You’ll have to wait and seeeeee!”

Kelley teased the whiney brunette gleefully in a sing song voice and was rewarded with popcorn thrown at her head. She shrugged and picked up the pieces from her chest and popped them into her mouth, cheerfully enjoying her surprise snack. Emily laughed at the two of them happily and shook her head at their crazy friendship.

………………………

It was weird to be on the field and not have Kelley playing in the game with her. Emily looked on the sideline to see the normally smiley gal, frowning. She was NOT HAPPY about Becky benching her. It was understandable, Kelley hadn’t practiced that week and was still recovering, but that didn’t mean Kelley had to like it. Emily looked to her left and smiled at Becky and JJ and then to her right and got a big thumbs up from Ali and she tried to filter out the fact that she could almost feel the annoyance radiating off KO on the sideline.

Turns out the team didn’t need Kelley on the field anyway. The other team was no match for them at all and they trounced them 6 to 0. Everyone got a chance to take the field as a sub, except Kelley to her chagrin. At one point Becky even considered putting one of their midfielders in goal just for shits and giggles, but she felt that wouldn’t be very respectful. Their easy win was a welcome surprise after their narrow victory from their first game of the year and the team gathered around their captain shouting and hollering for their victory huddle.

“Alright ladies, that was some great soccer out there! I was really pleased to be able to give so many of you some playing time and I saw a lot of great teamwork happening. Tobs, the hat trick was truly inspired and Pinoe you certainly stunned with that cartwheel goal celebration.”

The pixie blonde midfielder bowed exaggeratedly and Tobin blushed as she waved off the pats of congratulations on her back. Christen was beaming at the tan midfielder and Emily almost gagged at how adorable they were, but she held it in knowing her teammates had been supportive of her and Kelley being just as grossly cute. Becky continued with her speech.

“Honestly I don’t have much else to say other than I’ll see you gals tonight to properly party! Ash it’s not every day we get to celebrate your birth, a massive win, and the best holiday all in one night, so you better be ready for us.”

The keeper smiled widely and flashed a thumbs up.

“Oh you better believe we’re ready. This one’s gonna be a rager for the history books. Get your costumed asses over early for a little team pre-game, but then we’re opening up the house to all of campus! Presents are totally welcome especially in the form of anything BYOB.”

Ashlyn smirked at the mention of alcohol and Emily looked over at Moe with wide eyes, just now fully comprehending that this was gonna be an insane party.

“Basically it’ll be the party of the year and it’s gonna be WILD!”

Ashlyn shouted the last word and Ali covered the keeper’s mouth with her hand, laughing at her girlfriend’s over exuberance. The short haired brunette took her girlfriend’s hand and kissed it, not fazed or embarrassed in the slightest at her own excitement. It was her birthday and she could be pumped to celebrate if she felt like it! Becky chuckled.

“Well on that note, lets do a team on 3!”

The team all cheered and moved around excitedly except for Kelley who was scuffing her foot against the grass. Emily moved over and slung her arm around her.

“Kel I know you’re bummed you didn’t get to play, but you can still party tonight! Aren’t you excited to see me in my costume? I seem to recall a certain girl who wanted to get me a little drunk and show me off at parties…”

Emily raised her eyebrow and tried to get the golden eyed gal’s sparkle back. Kelley looked up and the start of a smile tugged at her lips. She mumbled in response.

“Yeah that’ll be fun.”

“Plus you’ll get to take me home after the party and have your way with me. Don’t try to tell me you haven’t been missing that…”

Kelley’s slight smile turned into a full blown smirk.

“You have no idea.”

Kelley pinched Emily’s butt causing her to yelp and swat at the freckled defender. She took off running across the field and the two raced to the car laughing, Kelley’s angst over the game now forgotten.

………………………

Emily felt the warmth from the alcohol in her system flowing through her along with the heavy beat of the music around her shaking her to her core. The air was somehow sticky with sweat despite the chilly temperature of the October air. Hundreds of bodies pressed up against one another, grinding and swaying, tend to produce heat. She pulled on her green cropped shirt as it had crept a little too far up her midriff for her liking. When she and Kelley had decided to go as Mario and Luigi, Emily knew it was the perfect costume. Just the right combo of bro and hoe they were looking for. Plus overalls have pockets so that was a no brainer.

She looked across the room watching Kelley and HAO do their normal beer pong thing and smiled. Kelley deserved a fun night after her bummer of a week. The girl was glowing in her costume. Her short overalls with the cropped red shirt and jaunty cap with an M on it fit like a glove and Emily licked her lips as the light bounced of the exposed skin in the tiny costume. She turned to Ali next to her, who had gone with an all black cat costume, and shouted above the music.

“Do you want a drink? I know Ash said she was going to get you one, but she looks a little busy.”

Emily looked pointedly over at the keeper dressed in a shark costume who had gotten sidetracked by a game of flip cup and was fist pumping wildly at her success. Her eyes were wild and her birthday crown and sash that she had on over her costume both threatened to fall onto the beer covered table at any moment. Ali chuckled.

“Sure Mr. Luigi! Just grab me whatever beer is in the mini-fridge in mine and Ash’s room upstairs. We kept the good stuff up there.”

Emily nodded, grateful for the chance to take a breather from the noise and heat, and wound her way through the crowd. She could hear Syd and Allie arguing over Rihanna vs. Beyonce while they danced next to their oblivious boyfriends and she spotted the three musketeers Rose, Lindsey, and Moe getting into trouble playing some form of card game that seemed to include removing pieces of costume if you lost. Rolling her eyes at the inevitable disaster that was going to be, she kept going and saw Tobin and Christen duck into the bathroom in a heated embrace as she rounded the corner to the stairs. Shaking her head with laughter at how those two could still be so handsy after a year together, she continued up the stairs.

Finally she got to the bedrooms. She glanced into Crystal and Julie’s room to make sure all their coats and stuff were still there. It wasn’t like they could make it from the dorms in their skimpy Mario Brothers ensembles without coats, especially Miss Kelley who was not allowed to get sick again anytime soon. They had decided that Crys and JJ’s room was the least likely to be utilized for any sexcapades after the party and was the safest place for their belongings. Satisfied with the security of their stuff, Emily moved into Ashlyn and Ali’s room and grabbed two Great Lakes Oktoberfest bottles from the mini-fridge.

When Emily made her way back to the party she glanced around the room to find Ali. All she could see though was jumping, dancing bodies. Pinoe was up at the front of the room manning the music and she had changed the music to some kind of House music. Emily leaned back against the wall and took a swig of her beer, waiting out the fast paced song before she continued her search. She felt a pair of eyes on her and a tall guy dressed in a pirate costume moved over next to her.

“What’s a cute girl like you doing drinking alone? You must be new around here or I definitely would have noticed you before.”

His breath smelled strongly of whiskey and his eyes leered in that really gross drunk guy way. Emily took a step back and smiled a tight, polite smile. She crossed her arms, the universal signal for back the fuck off.

“I’m not drinking alone, was just looking for someone actually.”

He did not get her vibe at all and moved a little closer.

“Oh yeah, well it looks like I found you first. What’s your name blondie?”

Suddenly Emily felt a familiar hand slide across her hip and she turned to see her rescuer at her side. Kelley’s eyes were bright and her face flushed from alcohol, but her grip on Emily was firm and reassuring. Emily sighed with relief as Kelley spoke to the creeper.

“Hey buddy, she’s taken, but thanks for keeping her company for me!”

Kelley’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes as she stared down the unwelcome visitor. He muttered under his breath as he turned around to rejoin the party.

“Fucking dykes.”

Emily sucked in her breath sharply as the words hit her ears. She was startled at the sudden loss of warmth around her waist as Kelley whirled away from her grabbing the large guy by the shoulder and trying to turn him around.

“What the hell did you just say dickhead?”

Kelley’s chest was puffed out and her jaw was set firmly as she challenged him. Emily put her hand on Kelley’s arm and tried to pull her away.

“Kel he’s not worth it ok?”

In her more than tipsy state Kelley couldn’t turn off her rage and she brushed off Emily’s words, pushing Emily to the side a little more roughly than she intended and stepping up to the mystery guy and giving him a little shove.

“Dude what did you say to me and my girlfriend? Say it to my face.”

Kelley was seething at the point. Emily tried to calm her down, but she just wouldn’t listen. Kelley jabbed her finger into his chest and he just looked down at her. Emily shouted from the side uselessly.

“Kelley stop it! I just wanna have a good time, c’mon lets go.”

The guy had about a foot and probably 100 pounds on the jacked, but small woman and he scared Emily more than she wanted to admit. He looked Kelley in the eye and repeated his earlier words slowly and clearly, emphasizing each word to add insult to injury.

“I. said. fucking. dykes.”

The next 30 seconds were a blur. Emily knew Kelley pushed him and fists were flying. She screamed when his fist came back and knocked Kelley straight to the ground. All of a sudden she was being held back by Tobin and Dom and Servando were dragging the homophobic prick out of the party. Emily burst into hot, salty tears and Alex joined her and Tobin and tried to calm her down. Emily kept hiccupping as her cries slowed and she watched Ashlyn and Ali crouch around Kelley, making sure she was ok. Suddenly it was all too much. She felt like she might throw up or explode if she stayed here any longer. Emily threw Alex and Tobin’s comforting arms off her back and ran upstairs. Grabbing her coat and keys she flew down the stairwell. Ignoring the protests of her teammates, she ran out the door into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I don't have anything to say. My life is basically a mess right now, so any comments to brighten my spirits are welcome.


	21. Chapter 21 - What Do We Deserve?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so many things.  
> 1\. I wanted this chapter up on Friday just cause it was Kelley's birthday and you all should get a present for that, but I couldn't make it happen.  
> 2\. I'm friggin' ecstatic Sonny scored this weekend!!! Take that Jill and your stupid rosters.  
> 3\. I have too many feelings about the way Kriegs is being treated and if you want to talk about it, leave me a comment lol.  
> 4\. This one is short. I am having a hard time writing lately. I'm not happy with how this one turned out at all, but I couldn't stare at it anymore. I'm sorry it's not longer, but I just wanted to put it up for you all.

As she ran down the street Emily’s hair whipped around her face in the crisp fall wind. She could feel the hot tears still falling down her face, her cheeks becoming sticky from the salt and she could hear the sound of blood pounding in her ears. She felt a bit unsteady and dizzy as she kept running and the adrenaline began to wane. Slowing down to catch her breath and calm down, Emily sat down on the curb. She looked a mess. Her face in her hands, shoulders slumped and heaving as she gasped for air. Just as she was beginning to feel like the world had come back into focus and she had gotten control again, her phone rang loudly in her overalls pocket. Emily sniffed loudly and wiped the snot from her nose before answering the call. Her voice was raspy from crying and the cold night air.

“Hello?”

“Em? Are you there?”

Emily heard her sister’s voice and she felt instant relief that her twin called her just when she needed her most. She softly answered, still trying to gather her energy again.

“Yeah I’m here.”

“Thank God you answered. Moe texted me that there was an emergency and I needed to call you right away. Are you ok?? What’s going on?”

Emily mentally thanked her roomie for being the best in the world before she sighed noisily. Her voice hitched as she responded.

“No I’m not ok. I mean I’m like not in danger at this moment or anything, so I guess I’m fine, but Emma I just messed up so bad. Everything was so fucked up to begin with before I made it worse. I’m so out of my depth here. I don’t know what to do!”

“Whoa ok, slow down. Can you start at the beginning so I can help you? First of all, where are you right now?”

Emily looked around and tried to gauge where she was on campus.

“Um I think I’m like a few blocks from my dorm. I’m sitting on the curb in my Halloween costume.”

“Well that’s ok I guess. Why are you on the curb Em?”

“I ran away from a party after Kelley got in a fist fight.”

Emily heard her twin suck in her breath sharply in surprise.

“WHAT? She did not. Why would she do something like that? Ok, go back a bit and tell me what happened.”

Emily sighed and recounted the whole night to her sister, from the first creepy moment to the last gut wrenching bit when Kelley hit the ground. Telling the story to someone else was cathartic and it helped Emily process the evening a bit. She started to gather her thoughts and feelings about the whole thing.

“Emma I was so scared. I mean at first I was just annoyed at that dickwad and wanted to just get away from him. But then when Kelley wouldn’t listen to me and pushed me away I got scared. I watched her antagonize him and there was nothing I could do. I felt helpless and my heart was breaking. Em, in that moment I swear I thought I was going to crumble into a billion pieces. I was so afraid that she was going to get hurt. And then I got mad. Because I didn’t need to feel that way. I didn’t need to be worried about her safety because Kelley didn’t need to fight him, she could’ve just backed down. She didn’t respect me enough to listen to me. She made the choice to challenge him and when she did that she chose to hurt me. Emma I think she’s someone who I could fall in love with, hell I think she might already be there, and that scares the shit out of me because I can’t be with someone like she was tonight. I can’t be with someone who makes me feel so helpless and frightened and who is reckless enough to get into fights at a party. My honor be damned that’s not what I want in my life.”

Emily got up from the curb and started pacing up and down the sidewalk as she talked. Her thoughts were swirling wildly and she was full of frenetic energy.

“I don’t want some macho meathead. I want the sensitive, wonderful woman who brought me sour patch kids yesterday morning to class because it was almost Halloween and she thinks we’re not too old to enjoy things like trick or treating. I want the girl who pulled an eyelash off my face and told me to make a wish before our first kiss. I want the perfectly adorable gal who taught me to square dance and makes me laugh until my abs hurt. How is it possible that the person who can do all those things can also be the same one who threw punches tonight?”

Emily had reached her peak of emotion and started to cry softly again. Emma listened quietly for a moment and then cleared her throat to try and console her sister.

“Hey, Em, it’s ok to be scared. It means you care and that you have something worth losing, you know? I don’t think this is the end of the world. You said you were at a party, so you all probably had a lot to drink right? Well drunken decisions often aren’t our most shining moments. She’s still that person who did all those amazing things for you. She just made a mistake tonight. Can you just go back to the party and talk to her for me? I’m sure if she knew how much she hurt you, she would never do anything like that again. You need to tell her all of this. Please don’t cut her off and shut her out. I know you. When you get scared, you run. You’ve done it your whole life. You’ve gotta turn this around because I’ve never seen you happier. You two are good for each other.”

Emily sighed and shook her head. Her tone was frustrated.

“Emma it’s not that simple. You don’t get it. There’s a bigger problem here. You say she is the girl that I described, the amazing person I know. Well I don’t deserve her to begin with. I’ve never had to deal with that kind of homophobic hate before. It hurt like hell. I’m not sure I’m ready to be what Kelley needs me to be. You know how I was supposed to tell mom and dad about her? I still haven’t done it yet. What does that say about us that I’m so messed up I can’t even share this happy part of my life with them? She deserves better than that. You’re right that I’m sure she wouldn’t have fought if she’d known how much it would freak me out, but I can’t say the same about what I’m doing. I keep knowingly making the choice to hurt her by keeping her a secret. Maybe we’re not good for each other…”

Emily’s voice trailed off as she got lost in thought. Emma rushed to knock some sense into the flustered girl. Her voice was stern and serious.

“Emily Ann Sonnett stop that nonsense right now and get your ass back to the party and talk to your girlfriend! You’re talking yourself in circles, trying to convince yourself you don’t deserve love and I won’t have it. So what that you haven’t told Mom and Dad yet. Have they asked you about your dating life at all? It’s not something that y’all usually talk about! If I were next to you right now I’d slap you across the face and tell you to snap out of it. Now you march back there and just have a conversation with Kelley before you burn your life to the ground!”

Emily could almost imagine the self-satisfied smirk on her sister’s face after her little speech. She rolled her eyes at her pep talk, but took the words to heart.

“Fine, but only because I know if I don’t I’ll never hear the end of it from you.”

“Damn right! Text me to let me know everything’s ok when you can. I love you twinkie, you know that right? I only want what’s best for you and I just don't want you to ruin things for yourself.”

“Yeah, yeah I love you too loser. I’ll talk to you soon.”

Emily hung up the phone before her sister could say bye. She needed to get a move on and figure this mess out. She pulled her coat tighter around her body and gathered her courage for the trek back to the soccer house.

………………………

The party was still raging when Emily walked into the house. She didn’t know why she expected the rest of the world to have stopped when her world was dangerously close to exploding. She looked around the house, teeming with bodies and wiped the pieces of blonde hair from under her Luigi hat that had fallen in her eyes. She spotted Moe and raced over to her, shouting loudly over the music.

“Morgan, Morgan! Where is Kelley, I need to find her!”

The tipsy brunette stumbled over her black robes from her Hermione costume as she wrapped Emily in a hug.

“I was so worried about youuu! Never do that again roomie.”

Emily chuckled, but hastily maneuvered the conversation back in the direction she needed it to go.

“Ok roomie, I promise I won’t run away again, but please I need to get to Kel.”

“She’s upstairs in Christen and Tobin’s room!”

Morgan pointed at the stairwell and Emily thanked her profusely. She pushed through the crowd of people dancing, ignoring calls to join in on the fun from Rose and Lindsey, and rushed up the steps two at a time. She knocked on the door and Christen opened it.

“Oh! Em, come on in.”

The raven haired girl, dressed in her Game of Thrones best for the holiday, moved aside quickly with a slightly confused expression on her face. Last she knew, Emily had run out the door, so seeing her back at the party was a surprise. Emily saw Kelley sitting cross legged on Tobin’s bed holding a bag of frozen peas on her face. Her Mario hat was long forgotten, probably somewhere crumpled on the floor downstairs and her overall straps were sliding off her shoulders. She was laughing at a joke Tobin must’ve just told and if Emily didn’t know any better she would’ve thought the two were just hanging out like normal. She cleared her throat nervously and the pair looked up. Kelley’s eyes lit up and she squealed happily.

“Sonnnyyy! Babe come here! What happened to you? You missed nurse Christen here taking care of me. It was hot.”

Christen rolled her eyes and Tobin smacked Kelley muttering something about that’s my woman under her breath. Emily walked over to sit next to Kelley on the bed. She could still smell the alcohol on Kelley’s breath when the drunk girl snuggled into her side. The cold from the peas on her face made Emily shiver. All thoughts of a serious conversation flew out the window. She thought Kelley would be angry at her for abandoning her, but she had been too drunk to notice. Kelley wasn’t in a state to even remember that Emily had been upset, let alone sober enough to talk about their future.

“Um I just needed some air Kel. I’m here now.”

Kelley threaded their fingers together and looked up at Emily with a pouty face.

“Well I missed you. Can you kiss it better for me?”

Emily smiled and felt her reservations and anxieties melting away, her resolve to bring up difficult topics once Kelley slept it off wavering. She couldn’t resist Kelley’s eyes. She brought Kelley’s hand up to her lips and kissed it gently and put her arm around the smaller girl, rubbing soft circles on her back. Kelley and Tobs continued to chatter away and Emily just sat back and listened, relishing the softness and warmth from having Kelley safely in her arms. She pushed her conversation with her sister to the back of her brain, hoping to lock it away and to never have to deal with those feelings again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeahhhh. That's that. Sorry it sucks. I will try to get another one up in the next week, but no promises. What do you all think is gonna happen next? Trying to gauge if I'm confusing all of you too much.
> 
> P.S. I still think it's so messed up that Emily and her twin are basically named the same thing. Do you know how weird it is to write conversations between those two when they could both be called Em? Lol.


	22. Chapter 22 - Adult Conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends! Sorry this took so long. I've been super busy, but I made it happen and here's a chapter :)

Emily’s favorite part of Fridays was the mad dash from Italian class to her dorm and knocking on Kelley’s door hurriedly. 9 times out of 10 it resulted in some heated afternoon delight style sex and the Friday after the Halloween showdown was one of those 9. With their pulses still racing and hair all askew, the pair laid back in Kelley’s bed in the afterglow of their afternoon fun. Kelley traced her finger along Emily’s bicep, drawing patterns as she held her close. Smiling she turned her head to kiss Kelley’s cheek and snuggled into her side. She could feel the vibrations in Kelley’s chest as the older girl started to speak interrupting their post-coital bliss.

“Hey Em, my mom asked me today what my plans were for Thanksgiving and I didn’t know what to tell her other than my flight info. I don’t wanna pressure you, but does your offer to meet your parents still stand? I know Erin is dying to get to know you and has been bothering me for weeks now. Plus what are we gonna do for your birthday? It’s the Saturday after the holiday.”

Emily shifted uncomfortably in Kelley’s arms, wanting to do anything but have this conversation. She played with the thread unraveling on the blanket covering the two of them, avoiding Kelley’s gaze. The beats of silence went on for just a tad too long to be considered normal and Kelley sensed the awkward atmosphere.

“What’s going on Emily? You’ve been weird all week. You flinch if I come near you to touch you. I get if the invitation to see your parents is too much now and I can totally tell Erin to back off, but you’re acting like me wanting to spend your birthday with you is crazy and it’s not. Can you just talk to me?”

The hurt was evident in Kelley’s voice and Emily sighed.

“Kel I don’t know what you’re talking about with me flinching. You were literally just inside me 5 minutes ago, I don’t know how much closer we could get!”

The blonde hoped her joke and avoidance of most of Kelley’s questions would alleviate some of the tension in the room, but it had the opposite effect. Kelley sat up behind Emily and Emily’s head fell to the pillow. Kelley pulled the blanket up higher on her body, feeling like her nakedness made this conversation harder and brushed her hair out of her face in a frustrated motion.

“Emily please just be serious! I meant like when I touch you in public. Like when we’re in class and I put my arm around you, it’s like you turn to ice. At practice you fell over from turning when I went to kiss you on the cheek after the huddle!”

When Kelley had been moving to sit up, Emily reached for her phone on the night stand. It had been buzzing incessantly while they were otherwise occupied in the throes of passion. She swiped the screen to see her group text with Morgan, Rose, and Lindsey and quickly scanned through all the messages, half-listening to Kelley.

Moe: Sonny! Where are you? We’re leaving for dinner and the improv show in an hour and I haven’t seen you all day. You are NOT bailing on us this time, I don’t care how much homework you have.

Rose: Morgan you know where she is. Why do you even ask this question when you know you’re just gonna get an answer you don’t wanna hear?

The Great Horan: Lavelle now you’ve done it. Em, for once could you not flaunt your sex life at us? Even when Rose makes it too easy?

Moe: Cheese and rice you two. Em just be in the lobby at 5:30 ok?

Emily laughed at her crazy friends and glanced at the clock to see it said 5:20.

“Shit! I’m gonna be late. Kel I can’t do this right now.”

Emily jumped off the bed less than gracefully and landed with a thud. She composed a text rapid fire and pressed send.

Emily: I’ll be there! No promises about keeping the flaunting to myself ;)

She speedily started pulling on the closest clothes she could find. Kelley glared at her girlfriend and huffed as Emily moved around the room.

“Em we are not done talking about this. I don’t understand what’s going on, but something’s wrong and you can’t avoid it forever.”

When Emily moved back closer to the bed to grab her keys and jacket, Kelley grabbed her wrist and held her there. Her facial expression softened from the previous annoyance and was only filled with concern.

“Really though, Emily I just want to know what’s happening in your head. If there’s a problem or I did something bad, I want to fix it. You know you can tell me anything right?”

Emily looked into Kelley’s soft eyes and felt something shift inside her. She knew she hadn’t been forthcoming with Kelley and it wasn’t fair to her. She had to face her fears of confrontation. She pecked the freckled brunette on the nose before responding.

“I promise, tomorrow before our date night we’ll have a long chat ok?”

Kelley smiled and while her expression still had the faintest hint of concern, Emily could see the little smile wrinkles around her eyes that she thought were so adorable and she knew Kelley would be fine.

“Ok, but you can just come up to my room when you’re back? We’ll table our discussion for the morning, but I still wanna sleep next to you tonight. Alex and I are doing those face masks she found online and I’ll need you to save me from her anyway.”

Emily giggled and nodded. She moved towards the door to leave, getting ready to shout goodbye as she opened it when she heard Kelley speak behind her.

“By the way, you look sexy in my shirt.”

Emily looked down at her torso in surprise and saw in her haste to get dressed she had indeed put on Kelley’s shirt and not her own. She blushed and shrugged.

“You have good taste I guess!”

With that she winked and departed to meet her friends. After taking the stairs 2 at a time and strolling into the lobby only 1 minute late, Emily heard Lindsey hoot with glee.

“Told ya! You owe me 5 bucks Rose.”

The pale, gangly brunette grumbled and handed over the money begrudgingly while Emily looked on curiously.

“What did you tell her?” asked Emily and she moved to walk out of the dorm to the dining hall.

Rose got a mischievous look on her face as Morgan elbowed her and made a shushing motion. Lindsey rolled her eyes and ignored Morgan’s well-meaning instructions.

“Oh I just bet Rose that you came straight from fucking Kelley without even washing your hands first and I was totally right. I mean look at your hair! There’s no way you were in a bathroom or looked in a mirror.”

Emily could feel the blush reach all the way to the tips of her ears and she was thankful for her high collared jacket that probably hid just how crimson she was over her entire body. She reached into her pocket and pulled out some hand sanitizer and sprayed it onto her hands, realizing no matter how crude the bet was, Lindsey was right. She mumbled to herself as they walked to dinner.

“Well at least I’m getting some.”

Lindsey laughed and Rose smacked Emily on the back in a friendly way while Moe rolled her eyes. As Emily tried to flatten her hair to look less incriminating, the four girls devolved into fits of giggles, happily ready for an evening of fun.

………………………

Throughout the evening, even when she was laughing uproariously at Mission Impovable’s crazy sketches, part of Emily’s mind was focused on what she needed to do to fix things with Kelley. Putting aside the flinching thing because clearly that was a subconscious reaction to the fight and first homophobic experience (thanks Intro to Psych!), there was one thing she could do immediately that would make things better. She knew it was time to spill the beans to her parents about her relationship and on their post-comedy walk home she started practicing the conversation in her head. Muttering to herself she got some weird looks from her trio of friends, but she didn’t care. Once they got to the building Emily stopped before entering the building through the door. She pulled her coat tighter around her and motioned to a bench.

“Y’all I need to make a phone call, so I’m gonna stay out here ok?"

She got a few nods and see ya laters as the girls moved out of the cold air and Emily sat down on the bench. She took a deep breath and scrolled through her favorites to find the contact she was looking for. Hopefully it wasn’t too late at night to call, but if it was she was gonna risk it anyway. After 3 rings, she got a response.

“Hello? Honey? Why are you calling so late? Is everything all right??”

Emily chuckled at the overreaction and rushed to alleviate any fears.

“Everything’s fine Mom. I just really wanted to talk to you. I’m sorry it’s late, but are you still up to chat?”

“Of course sweetie, I always have time for you. What’s on your mind? Are you doing anything fun this weekend with your friends?”

Emily swallowed loudly. She could feel her heart racing inside her chest. That was a perfect in for her to tell her mom! She gathered her courage and pictured Kelley’s happy face as motivation before she spoke slowly and clearly.

“Uh yeah actually I have fun plans for tomorrow night. I have a date!”

“Oh! That’s wonderful. What’s his name?”

Emily felt her heart stop. This was the moment. She had to do it. She clenched her fist and pushed out the words quickly.

“Well her name is Kelley.”

Emily heard her Mom laugh on the other end.

“Aw hun I thought you meant a date, date, not like a going out as friends date. What’s on the docket for your outing?”

Emily felt the heat rising in her face. In all the conversations she’d rehearsed, it didn’t occur to her that her mom wouldn’t get it and she was a little bit peeved. She kept her annoyance under control though and gave her mom the benefit of the doubt. Lord knows lots of older people had the gal pals mentality firmly entrenched in their brains. She used her surge of adrenaline to take the plunge.

“Actually mom, it really is a date. Kelley is my girlfriend. We’ve been going out for over 2 months now. I know I should’ve told you earlier, but I didn’t know how.”

Emily breathed a sigh of relief at finally having gotten the words out, but the sensation was short lived as she waited with baited breath for her mother’s response. Who knew time could even go this slowly?? The silence stretched longer than Emily thought was possible until she finally cleared her throat and softly asked a question.

“Did you hear me Mom?”

“Yes, sorry. That was just not what I expected at all. A girlfriend huh? Well I guess college is all about experimenting and what not. I read that on the internet the other day! You know how I try to stay up with the times.”

Emily sighed exasperatedly and answered with frustration evident in her voice.

“Mom Kelley isn’t an experiment. I’m gay, like not gonna date guys at all if Kelley and I ever break up kind of gay. I know this is probably hard for you to hear all of this, so I get it if you’re a little confused or even upset. I really hope it is ok though because she’s important to me. In fact, I want you to meet her over Thanksgiving. She’s from Georgia, so she’s going to be in town for the holiday with her own family.”

“Emily Ann! You should’ve led with the Georgia part! If she’s a peach, then she’s fine by me. We’ll set a place at the table for her and everything.”

Emily giggled as her feelings of anxiety waned and she processed her Mom’s ridiculous statement. She should’ve known it would be more important for her to bring home a Southerner even if she was a girl. Her family was crazy, but damn did she love them. She joked back to her mother.

“You’re right! I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Emily swore she could hear her mom smile over the phone and she knew everything was gonna be ok.

“Baby girl, I love you, no matter what. I can’t wait to see you and meet Kelley when you’re home. I’ll let Dad know the news so he can have some time to let it sink in.”

Emily felt her heart swell. Her mom could be dense sometimes, but she tried her best.

“Thanks Mom. I love you too. Give Dad a hug for me?”

“Absolutely pumpkin. Get some sleep and we’ll talk again soon.”

Emily felt like she was walking on cloud 9 when she went up the stairs to her room. She opened the door and Moe looked up and stared at Emily’s Cheshire cat grin and laughed. The two gabbed and Emily gushed about her triumphant phone call while she changed into her pajamas, brushed her teeth, and got her charger before heading up to Kelley’s room. Knocking with more excitement than normal Kelley opened the door. Her freckled face looked dewey and fresh from her beauty regimen with Alex and Emily rushed to kiss her exuberantly. Kelley laughed and pulled back and held her girlfriend at arm’s length, looking at her curiously.

“What got into you? Last I checked we were kinda fighting…”

Emily smiled and grabbed Kelley’s hand, pulling her with her towards the bed and bouncing on the edge of the mattress excitedly.

“Can I tell you while we’re snuggling? Cause that’s all I wanna do right now.”

Kelley shrugged, willing to take snuggling even if she was still confused and the pair moved comfortably into bed facing each other. Their noses almost touched and Emily could feel Kelley’s feet moving to intertwine their legs by reflex. She traced Kelley’s jaw and pressed a quick kiss to her lips before delivering her exciting news.

“I told my mom about us!”

Kelley’s eyes lit up with surprise and happiness and she grabbed Emily’s hand under the covers and threaded their fingers together.

“Wow, that’s amazing! I’m so happy for you! Clearly it went more than ok since joy is oozing from your pores.”

“It went pretty well, at first she was all weird about it and not understanding what I was trying to tell her, she even brought up the internet and knowing about college experimentation which was like ugh gag me, but at the end she said she can’t wait to meet you and that she loves me no matter what. That’s all that really matters right? Also it means Thanksgiving is a go!”

Kelley smiled widely and her expression was one filled with pride.

“Really, that’s fantastic. I’m proud of you Em. That’s a big deal. I can’t wait to meet her too! Thank you for doing that for me. I hope you didn’t feel like I pressured you into telling her because I was mad earlier.”

Emily shook her head and answered quickly.

“You didn’t pressure me. It was something that I needed to do for me. I’d been feeling pretty guilty about not telling my parents. Honestly I’ve had a lot of feelings lately. Some internal battles I’m dealing with. The fight last weekend brought up some fears and issues that I didn’t know I had and it definitely freaked me out more than I thought it would. That’s why I’ve been less receptive to you in public I guess.”

Kelley nodded and hummed understandingly.

“Yeah, when I came out, the first time I dealt with any negative reaction I stopped telling people for like a month. I get that.”

Emily took a deep breath for the second time that night and dove head first into a conversation that she didn’t really want to have. She should get all the points in the world tonight for actually being a mature adult!

“Kel, the other part of the fight that freaked me out was you though. It really upset me when you couldn’t listen to me and stop yourself from getting physical with him. I was so scared you were gonna get hurt! I don’t want to be with someone who is a hot head and makes me feel that way.”

Emily mumbled the last words and looked down at the end of her sentence and bit her lip. She felt Kelley’s hand lift her chin so she could look her in the eye. Kelley’s face was pained and her voice was apologetic. She stroked Emily's arm reassuringly.

“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. He just made me so angry it was like an out of body experience. I promise, I won’t do it again. Cross my heart. I would never do anything that makes you scared. Except maybe a little prank now and then. Can’t promise I’ll stop making you squeal cause it’s just so freaking adorable!”

Emily chuckled and sighed. She felt so much weight off her chest from finally dealing with their problems. She knew Kelley was being sincere and it filled her with warmth for her. She leaned in to kiss Kelley much slower and softer than her peck from earlier. Kelley gasped and Emily used this to her advantage as she slipped her tongue into her mouth and pressed her knee between Kelley’s legs. Her hands wandered up and down Kelley’s back, slipping beneath her pajama shirt and she pulled the smaller girl close so their torsos were flush against each other. She felt Kelley’s heart beating quickly and both girls’ breathing started to get heavy as Kelley moved to Emily’s neck and sucked and bit gently. A little moan of pleasure escaped from her lips. 

For the second time that day, the two found themselves ravaging each other’s bodies and screaming out the other’s name with delight. This time though both had a sense of contentment that comes from deeper understanding and communication in a relationship. If they had been ready to say the words to each other, you could’ve called it making love. They were gonna be just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? Favorite part? Please leave me your comments! It's what inspires me to keep this one going.
> 
> Would you all want to ever have a one shot in this same universe from Kelley's POV? I was thinking if this story gets to 400 kudos I'll write something like that.
> 
> P.S. I met Sonny at the Chicago/Portland game on Saturday. Honestly I'm still shook from it haha. She was so sweet and lovely and it made me so happy.


	23. Chapter 23 - Friendsgiving Fun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola peeps! Did everyone have a good weekend? All my favorite NWSL teams came out on top, so I was pretty pumped, plus KO finally got back on the field, so yay!!! As always, I hope you enjoy this.

Emily groaned as she stretched in her bed on Sunday morning. Time had not been kind to her lately as November flew by and the schoolwork piled up in the last few days before Thanksgiving break. She winced as she sat up to grab her phone, taking note of the massive bruise on her thigh from a nasty tackle during their game yesterday. Their last game of the semester had been brutal, freezing rain and a foul hungry squad. They squeaked out a 3-2 win from a massively heroic effort on the part of Alex, but they were pretty worse for the wear after and their post-game celebrations had been fairly tame. Mostly they just sat in pajamas in the soccer house and begged teammates to give massages while they pretended they were going to rally and go out and party. To be honest, everyone was downright exhausted. Yet as dependable as ever, Moe still found the energy to get up for church and Emily wasn’t surprised to see her roommate’s bed empty. She glanced down at her texts and smiled to see Kelley’s name on the screen.

Kelley: Morning babe! You’re coming over to help with the cooking for today’s festivities yeah?

Emily scrunched her eyes as she tried to think of a reason she would ever have said yes to helping cook for the big Friendsgiving feast going down at the soccer house that evening. She vaguely remembered Becky announcing the event during practice last week and Kelley squealing with excitement about being able to try out new recipes and raising her hand to volunteer. Kelley fancied herself a chef and she wasn’t half bad when she put her mind to it. As Emily thought back on the announcement, she knew she had laughed and rolled her eyes when Kelley volunteered her as well, thinking it would be fun to watch her prance around the kitchen in an apron and enjoying the feeling of Kelley’s arm around her. In the harsh light of day though, she was having second thoughts as she typed a response to Kelley.

Emily: Kel you really don’t want me in the kitchen. I’ll be more hindrance than help. Ask Emma, I was the only kid on our block who almost burned down the house with my easy bake oven.

Emily plopped her head back on the pillow, but her rest was shortlived as Kelley’s response was instantaneous.

Kelley: Em you’ve gotta come. Just for the Tobin factor alone. She needs someone to keep her busy. Every time she comes in the kitchen to talk to us Christen almost cuts off a finger! I’m afraid for her safety…

Emily read the text and hooted with laughter imagining Ali and Kelley frantically taking sharp objects away from a love-struck Christen.

Emily: Sigh, fine. I’ll come babysit Tobs.

Emily got up and started to get dressed, grabbing her laptop and books to study at the soccer house during her babysitting duties.

Kelley: THANK YOU! It’ll be worth it once you taste this chocolate caramel pecan pie I’m whipping up. My grandma passed down the recipe to my mom. It’s an O’Hara tradition! You’re gonna die when you eat it. It’s better than sex. Just don’t tell my mom you’ve tried it before when y’all meet next week cause she’ll be mad I shared the secret recipe outside the family.

Filing away the meeting her mom next week comment for later because she was already a little scared for the meet the parents situation over Thanksgiving break, Emily laughed at her hyperbolic girlfriend and decided to tease her a bit.

Emily: I don’t know whether to be excited to eat this concoction, offended that you think a dessert is better than sex with me, or a little freaked out that you mentioned your mother and grandmother in the same 30 seconds as sex…

Kelley: Ugh whatever. My mom says it’s better than sex when she makes it too. Get over it lady. Hate to break it to you, but your parents have sex otherwise you wouldn’t exist!

Emily covered her mouth with her hand to keep in the giggles at Kelley’s unapologetic response as the typing bubbles continued.

Kelley: As for being offended, I mean I would be lying if I said it was worse than sex with you and I just can’t do that to this pie. Like that is how good this pie is and you know how freaking awesome I think you are in bed. I seem to recall a 3 orgasm special a few nights ago that I almost blacked out it was so good :P

Emily’s face got a little red as she played the highlight reel from the other evening in her head. Shaking her head to clear her impure thoughts, she responded as she headed out the door.

Emily: Well the feeling’s mutual about you. I guess we can make room in the bed to add this pie into the mix! :D On my way to the house now. See you soon.

Kelley sent back the kissy emoji and let Emily know the door was open and she couldn’t wait to see her and Emily smiled as she locked up her dorm room.

………………………

“Hellooooo? My little cooking elves I’m here!” Emily shouted out happily and took a deep sniff of the delicious smells permeating the whole house. She saw JJ’s blonde bandanna covered head pop out from the kitchen as she brandished a spatula.

“Hi Sonnett! Kelley has her hands literally up a turkey’s butt (her words not mine) and says go find Tobin in the living room. She’ll come say hi later.”

Emily nodded while also shaking her head at her ridiculous girlfriend. When she entered the living room she saw Tobin laying on the floor throwing her soccer ball in the air forlornly. Emily dropped down next to the tan midfielder and nudged her softly.

“What’s up Tobs? You look like someone stole your candy.”

Tobin put the ball on the floor as she sat up and mumbled softly.

“I’m bored. It’s too cold outside to play and Christen’s busy cooking. Plus Ali yelled at me when I went in the kitchen. I mean I stepped on her foot, so I kinda deserved it, but still Ali never yells and it freaked me out.”

Emily stifled the giggles that threatened to erupt. When pouty toddler Tobin reared her adorable head, it was always a sight to behold. She thought quickly of how to cheer up the sulky girl and came up with the perfect idea.

“Well, I’m here now! Why don’t we play some mariokart, k? Then maybe by the time we’re done they’ll have some food for us to taste test.”

Tobin’s infamous grin spread from ear to ear as she shot up and started to set up the game excitedly. She yelled out exuberantly into the hallway.

“Ash get your butt in here so Sonny and I can whip it in a mariokart tournament!”

Ashlyn screamed back from upstairs.

“You wish you could whip this butt Tobs!” as she made it to the living room and found her way to the couch she slyly continued, “That’s reserved for the Kween on special occasions only though my dears” and she winked while Tobin groaned and Emily threw a pillow at her.

2 hours later and many screams of anguish later the 3 sat back on the couch exhausted, but content. As they were sitting in silence Emily realized she had the perfect pair to discuss her upcoming vacation and huge relationship steps. She cleared her throat and turned to face Ashlyn and Tobin on the other side of the couch.

“What was it like the first time you two met Christen and Ali’s parents? I’m sorta freaking out about Kelley meeting my parents and making a good impression on her family next week.”

Tobin started to laugh when she saw the grimace on Ashlyn’s face at the question.

“You better go first Ash cause she’s gonna need the pick me up after your story.”

Ashlyn sighed noisily and rubbed her temples in little circle motions like she had a headache.

“Ugh fine, but I’m only telling you this as a cautionary tale.”

Ashlyn took a deep breath and motioned for Emily to scoot closer so she could speak softly. Tobin’s eyes glimmered. She had heard the story before, but it never failed to make her laugh and she couldn’t wait to hear it again.

“So freshman year right before move out Ali and I were in her bed sleeping. Normally we didn’t really do the sleepover thing cause her roommate was kinda prissy and honestly not super cool with the whole gay thing, but she had moved out the night before and we took advantage of the roommate free room the night before if you get my drift. We were supposed to be up at like 10 so I could leave before her family arrived to get all her stuff, but turns out we didn’t set the alarm properly to get up the next morning. We were rudely awakened by a scream when Ali’s dad opened her door and found us lying naked in her bed. He had tried to call to be let into the building, but someone just opened the door for him since so many parents were coming and going with move out and we were idiots who didn’t lock Ali’s door in our romantic haste. Needless to say Ken has had a hard time meeting my eye at every dinner or event we’ve had to be at together since then…”

Emily’s eyes were wide and her mouth just hung open in a shocked expression. Ashlyn chuckled and moved to push Emily’s chin up.

“So yeah, basically if you can meet Kel’s parents any way other than being naked, I’d recommend that!”

The short haired brunette sat back, satisfied with having thoroughly scared her younger friend and Tobin jumped in to tell her less frightening tale next sensing the anxiety oozing from Emily's pores.

“But Em, really you shouldn’t worry. Kelley’s parents are an absolute dream, they’re super lovely. Plus it’s not always bad like what happened to Ash and Ali. When Christen met my parents I was positively terrified. I grew up in a super Christian household, so the bringing home a girlfriend thing wasn’t really ever on their radar and I was afraid they were going to completely disown me. They picked me up for winter break and we all went to that diner downtown and once they met her, they were so charmed that I swear they like her more than they like me! I told them later they had met my girlfriend, not just my friend and they took it like champs because she made such a good impression. As long as your polite and nice, it should be like that for you. Kelley’s parents are a piece of cake. When they visited last year, I wanted them to adopt me because they were so adorable. Plus your parents and her parents already know you two are a couple, so it’s not like it’ll be a surprise or anything.”

Emily looked into Tobin’s hazel eyes and was reassured by the steady girl’s words and presence. She was right! She could be delightful just like Christen if she put her mind to it and Kelley could charm the pants off any person without even trying, so they should be just fine. As she was going to thank her friends for their advice, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her from behind and the weight of a chin on her head.

“What are you hens clucking about in here? Should I be worried they’re filling your head with embarrassing stories about me?”

Emily looked up and smiled at Kelley, happy to finally see her released from her kitchen prison.

“Hi! There you are. You've been in there for forever. No! I was just getting some much needed and helpful guidance. Don’t worry, your embarrassing stories are safe for now.”

Kelley grinned as she hopped up and motioned towards the kitchen.

“Excellent! Because it’s time for you 3 to be our taste testers. The rest of the team should be getting here any minute!”

Tobin sprinted from her spot on the couch, not having to be told twice to eat food, and the 3 looked on in awe as they followed behind laughing.

………………………

“Hey! Listen up! Everyone, listen up please!” Becky stood up from the table while clinking her glass to get the team’s attention.

“First of all, I want to thank our cooks for this fabulous meal. From the looks of the completely empty plates, I’d say it was a success. Secondly, I know this is sappy, but I wanted to say how thankful I am for all of you. I know Friendsgiving is a new tradition for this team, but I think it’s really important that we express our gratitude for the important people in our lives and you all are certainly important in mine. It’s an honor to be your captain.”

Emily heard a sniffle next to her and saw Morgan wiping a tear from her eyes. She whispered to the emotional brunette.

“Are you seriously crying right now??”

“It’s just so beautiful!!! I love everyone and this night so much.”

“Okkkk. No more wine for you my friend.” Emily subtly moved Moe’s wine glass away from her as she giggled softly and tried to keep paying attention to Becky who had moved on to her next point.

“So I have everyone’s names here in this hat and we are going to draw our picks for the Team Secret Santa! You need to have your gifts bought or made by the last day of classes when we have our holiday party right back here at the house. Don’t worry about getting something expensive, just try to make it a good fit for whichever teammate you get.”

Becky smiled and clapped her ends excitedly before she passed the hat around the table and the low murmur of conversation took over. Emily saw Pinoe and HAO pulling the wishbone apart across the table and HAO fist pumping wildly after getting the larger piece. Pinoe’s crestfallen expression was priceless and Emily pulled out her phone to document it on snapchat. She’d probably pay for making fun of the feisty blonde later when Pinoe found a way to get her back, but it was totally worth it. Satisfied with her snap, she posted it to her story. She heard Kelley clear her throat as she looked up from her phone. She saw her holding out the hat full of names.

“Your turn babe.”

Emily reached in and pulled out a slip of paper, shielding it from the view of her roommate and girlfriend on either side of her. She opened it and was relieved to see Alex’s name on it. She would be an easy person to shop for since she basically lived on pinterest. Emily had been afraid she might get Kelley and she was already stressed out about finding the perfect Christmas gift for her. She didn’t need to up the pressure by needing a gift 2 weeks early!

Emily felt Kelley squeeze her knee under the table, indicating she should pass the hat to Morgan. She turned to peck her on the cheek and they settled back into comfortable conversation. She could enlist Kelley’s help for Alex’s gift when they went home for break! Things felt like they were falling into place in life exactly as they were meant to and she couldn’t wait for their trip back to Georgia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one was kinda a filler chapter and was a little short, but next one should be the meet the parents/Thanksgiving. DUN DUN DUN. Any requests?
> 
> Also I'm still thinking about the one shot from Kelley's perspective if this reaches 400 kudos. Not sure if you all would be into me writing that or not. You know this one has to come to an end at some point (it might be sooner rather than later) so I'd love to know if I should write other stuff lol.
> 
> Just a random question since I like to hear from you all. Who do you think will make the NWSL playoffs?
> 
> Update on September 16th, 2017: Hi all, I just wanted to say I haven't forgotten about this. I'm just crazy busy. I'm trying really hard to get an update done. I posted the one-shot though! Hope you like that one.


	24. Chapter 24 - I Get Nervous, but I'm Happy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm the worst and have been away for so long and for that I am incredibly sorry. This chapter is a little short, but I'm trying to get back in the swing of writing and back into this story. My travel season for work is almost over, so hopefully I can get another chapter up for you all before it's 2 months again. Ugh really I'm the worst, forgive me?
> 
> But since my last chapter so many things have happened. Freaking Sonnett scored in the NWSL semifinal and then they won the championship (if it couldn't be Orlando or Chicago, my heart was happier with the Thorns than NC haha.) What are you all doing in the off season to deal with the despair of not seeing our NWSL ladies on a weekly basis? I need some coping mechanisms lol.

Emily looked out the window. The landscape rushed past, but she took in the sight of the almost barren trees with a smattering of deep red and gold leaves clinging on desperately before winter reared its ugly head. Her breaths were a bit shallow with anxiety and her left knee bounced involuntarily and at a rapid pace. She couldn’t wait to get home and have a break from classes before finals, but she just couldn’t shake her nerves about her first visit home since coming out. As she began to go over the possible homecoming scenarios in her head for the 100th time, she was startled from her thoughts as she felt Kelley’s hand on top of her knee to steady the animated body part. Emily turned her head to smile weakly at the older girl.

“Hey you know it’s going to be ok right? They’re gonna be so excited to see you that they’re not even gonna think about me til I get there on Friday.”

Emily put her hand over the freckled one on her leg and squeezed it before she sighed dramatically.

“Ugh I know that it’s all gonna be fine in my heart, but tell that to my stomach because it clearly hasn’t gotten the message.”

Kelley chuckled and glanced away from the road to look at her girlfriend reassuringly.

“At least you’re done with class already! Be grateful you get to go home on Tuesday instead of tomorrow and that you have a kind hearted girlfriend who is driving you to the airport even though she’s cranky that she still has an exam tomorrow AND she’ll be apart from you for 3 whole days.”

Emily chuckled as Kelley continued.

“But really, things are gonna be fine. I’d give you a kiss if I could, but I’m afraid we’d go off the road and then things really wouldn’t be fine because Mama and Papa Sonnett would come and hunt me down for injuring their wittle baby.”

Emily solved the problem by leaning across the armrest and pecking Kelley on the cheek. 

“I mean you’re not wrong. The Sonnett parentals would go all Liam Neeson on you if I didn’t make it home in one piece.”

Emily heard Kelley giggle and she smiled as her mission to make her laugh was accomplished.” She softly mumbled continuing her thoughts.

“Kelley I’m gonna miss you too you know. You don’t have to be cranky alone! Besides, we’ll facetime and it’ll be like I’m not even gone.” 

Emily smiled sincerely at Kelley and the older girl grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers on the gear shift, stroking softly with her thumb while she drove. Emily settled back into her seat and stared out the window again. As she tried to ignore the anxious knots in her stomach that still wouldn’t unravel she thought of the scene that was inevitable once they arrived at drop-off. She knew Kelley was gonna be all melodramatic at the airport and to be honest she was kinda looking forward to the frenzied makeout and the deep inhale of Kelley’s citrusy shampoo before letting her go. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and maybe a few days apart would be good for them!

………………………

Emily was wrong. The days apart were torture. When you’re used to literally seeing someone basically every day since the first day you met, 3 days apart feels like an eternity. Emily found her parents getting on her last nerve with their holiday cheerfulness and Emma caught her many times staring at her phone just waiting for texts from Kelley to come through. From Kelley’s Instagram it seemed like she was having a jolly old time with Erin and Jerry, cooking up a storm and reveling in the quality family togetherness and it made Emily a little jealous to be honest. She didn’t like the green eyed monster that was rearing its ugly head, but she didn’t know how to stop it. Emily sighed while refreshing her feed again and her twin flopped onto the couch next to her placing her hand on Emily’s shoulder and squeezing lightly.

“Twinkie, I know I’m not the person you want to see right now, but can you try and enjoy Thanksgiving? I’ve really missed you and I feel like you’re not even here. Besides we haven’t even talked about the fact that we’re turning 19 on Saturday! This is a special time in our lives and you’re wasting it by staring at your screen.”

Emily turned to her sister with an apologetic look on her face. She mentally smacked herself for being so selfish! Emma was right, she should savor this time with her family.

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to be better. I wanna talk about our birthday, but I’m just all in my head. I can’t wait for Kelley to get her tomorrow, but I’m also dreading it with every fiber of my being because I’m so nervous about meeting her fam. Do you think Mom and Dad are gonna be weird? Like neither of us have ever brought someone home to meet them and I have no idea what to expect.”

Emma shifted on the couch to get more comfortable as she pondered.

“Well honestly I do think they’re gonna be weird because our parents are always weird. Where do you think you got it from you weirdo? It’s a miracle how normal I am despite the three of you.”

Emily shoved her sister and got a squeal of protest in response, but her blonde counterpart continued good-naturedly.

“Truly though, I don’t know what to expect either, but I’ve met Kelley and she’s a delight, so hopefully her family is much of the same! You’re worrying yourself over something you can’t control and it’s stupid. Just focus on the sweet potato casserole Mom’s got cooking in the oven and all will be well!”

Emma’s eyes sparkled like she had an evil idea and she finished up talking while she jumped up from the couch excitedly.

“I know just the way to distract you! I challenge you to a Sonnett Soccer Showdown in the backyard! First to 10 goals gets to skip out on dish washing duty later.”

Emily shot up from the couch quickly and ran to the sliding glass door that led out to the chilly backyard.

“You’re on and last one out to the backyard has to listen to Dad’s story about the golden days of college when he’s on his 4th cup of wine!”

………………………

After successfully being distracted and finally giving in to the warm fuzzy Thanksgiving feelings (and eating her weight in stuffing and destroying Emma at their little soccer competition to boot), on Friday morning Emily rolled over to check her phone and smiled at all the texts she saw.

Kelley: Babe Erin already came into my room 3 times this morning to ask me what she should wear to meet you. I think she’s trying to steal you from me.

Kelley: SEND HELP! Jerry tried to bring a whoopee cushion with us. Lord help me I’m gonna strangle him if he embarrasses me today.

Kelley: Emily you better be awake right now. We’re in the car on the way there… I think you’re perfectly adorable with that sleep crud in the corners of your eyes, but I’d prefer it if you cleaned up a little for the parentals ;)

Emily giggled sleepily and fired off a response.

Emily: Hmmmm we’ll have to see if you really are the cuter O’Hara sister. Maybe Erin has a shot! :P Leave Jerry to me. I can prank with the best of them, I’m not worried. Also I’ll have you know I got my beauty sleep and look perfectly presentable thank you very much.

Emily saw the typing bubbles as she started to change out of her pajamas and put on the jeans/sweater combo that Morgan had helped her pick out before they left for the break.

Kelley: I assure you I’m the cuter and smarter sister ;) As much as the idea of you getting back at my brother tickles me, it also terrifies me. Lets make a promise to be on our best behavior? Please?

Emily shook her head and laughed. She could feel the anxiety in Kelley’s texts and it took all her self-control not to press the facetime button to call her to make her feel better. Nervous Kelley actually calmed her down because it gave her something to focus on. Plus it was always a little fun to see the unflappable Kelley O’Hara a little anxious.

Emily: For you, I’d do anything. I’ve got my halo all ready to go :D

Kelley sent back the kissy emoji and Emily finished getting dressed, finally letting herself feel excited about hugging her girlfriend again in an hour.

………………………

“Now y’all just let us know if you need anything, but hopefully you're all set. I put an extra blanket on the guest bed, there’s a fresh towel in the dresser, and the bathroom is down the hall ok?”

Kelley looked up at Bill and nodded, softly mumbling her answer.

“Thanks Mr. Sonnett, I really appreciate your hospitality. Both lunch and dinner were wonderful and my parents absolutely loved the hike. I think Jerry wants to be adopted into the family now after eating Mrs. Sonnett’s fried chicken. It was a wonderful day and I just wanted to say thank you.”

Emily’s dad waved off Kelley’s compliments as Emily chuckled at shy, overly polite Kelley, enjoying all of this far too much.

“You’re so sweet, but how many times do I have to tell you to call us Bill and Jane?”

“At least one more Mr. Sonnett, always at least one more.”

Kelley’s eyes sparkled as she tested the waters of joking around with Emily’s parents and she winked over at her favorite blonde. Emily’s dad bellowed in appreciation and he clapped the freckled brunette on the shoulder affectionately.

“Touché, my dear! Now off to bed, tomorrow is the big birthday for my little twinsicles!”

Kelley smiled keeping her eyes firmly in place out of politeness instead of rolling them at the goofy nickname and went into the guest room as Bill walked over to Emily and ruffled her hair before opening her bedroom door indicating she should go inside. Emily looked longingly at the door down the hall that Kelley had disappeared into and mentally cursed her parents for their southern, Christian sensibilities. She gave her dad a kiss on the cheek and when she did he whispered in her ear.

“She’s great kiddo. You did good.”

Emily blushed and smiled from ear to ear before whispering back. She didn’t expect her dad to be such a softie and it made her immensely happy.

“Thanks Dad, that means a lot.”

Floating on cloud 9 as she got ready for bed, Emily ran through the day in her head. Karen had embraced Emily the moment she opened the door and that basically set the tone for the visit. Kelley was clearly a Daddy’s girl and Emily was so nervous about making a good impression on Dan, but he was open and warm just like his daughter and she found herself laughing easily with him and cracking jokes. Emma and Erin had gotten along beautifully and Jerry was actually far nicer than Kelley gave him credit for. They went for a hike at Kennesaw Mountain in the brisk fall air and for the first time in the day Kelley and Emily found a moment to sneak away and share a kiss, but it had been short lived. Both their families certainly seemed to be mood killers despite their best intentions. And yet, Emily knew it had been a perfect day. She couldn’t wait to tell Ashlyn and Tobin that she’d pulled it off! As Emily settled into bed and pulled her covers up to her chin, she sighed, just wanting to have Kelley next to her to have the perfect finish to their day, but she knew it wasn’t meant to be.

Just as she was starting to doze, Emily heard the creak of her bedroom door and she looked up to see Kelley’s familiar shape in the doorway. The brunette put her finger up to her lips as she tiptoed into the room and pulled back Emily’s blankets, climbing in next to her.

“Kelley what are you doing, my parents are right next door??”

Emily hissed anxiously, but Kelley just chuckled quietly.

“You didn’t think I was really gonna sleep next door did you? I haven’t seen you in days. Plus I want to be next to you when the clock strikes midnight so I’m the first thing you see on your birthday. I’d face the wrath of 20 Sonnett family members just to get in bed with you tonight.”

Kelley’s hands wandered around Emily’s waist and she pulled the muscular blonde flush against her torso. Emily inhaled sharply at the contact and her heart raced wildly at the illicitness of their activity, both scared of being caught and aroused by Kelley’s wandering hands. She felt Kelley’s lips on her neck and softly moaned, having missed her more than she thought she would.

“Dammit Kel, you are actually the devil, but I can’t resist you. We just have to be quiet ok?”

Kelley hummed appreciatively and moved to kiss Emily deeply on the lips before slipping her hands under the younger girl’s pajama top and slotting her thigh between Emily’s legs. Emily gasped and she could see the twinkle in Kelley’s eye as she broke their kiss.

“I can promise to be quiet myself, but I can’t promise to not do things to you that will make you want to scream.” And she slipped her hand into Emily’s pajamas bottoms gleefully.

Emily bit her lip to stifle her sounds. It was gonna be a long, sweaty, and (hopefully) silent night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you all still along for this ride? It's coming to an end, but I want to do it justice. What more do you want to see before I sew this baby up?
> 
> Sorry I skipped over a lot of the visit with the parents. It just didn't interest me as much as I thought it would lol.
> 
> Get at me with your comments, concerns, etc. Just say hi! I missed everyone.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Same Love, Different Eyes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12106011) by [B2Sweet16](https://archiveofourown.org/users/B2Sweet16/pseuds/B2Sweet16)




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